New bacteriophage discovered in South Korea kills eight 'superbugs' simultaneously

South Korean researchers have discovered a new bacteriophage in domestic freshwater that simultaneously kills eight types of “superbugs” resistant to multiple antibiotics.

The Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources said on the 5th that it had discovered a new bacteriophage, “A3676P,” that simultaneously kills eight multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter strains. The phage was isolated from a domestic freshwater environmental sample.

Acinetobacter bacteria are a major cause of hospital-acquired infections, including pneumonia and sepsis. In particular, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, which has severe antibiotic resistance, as the top-priority pathogen for which new drug development is most urgently needed.

According to the researchers, 28 of the 35 Acinetobacter strains collected from domestic rivers and other sources—nearly 80%—were confirmed to be multidrug-resistant strains. This suggests that antibiotic resistance is also widespread in the domestic environment.

The newly discovered “A3676P” demonstrated broad-spectrum antibacterial activity by simultaneously controlling eight of the 28 multidrug-resistant strains. This is an unusual result compared with the fact that bacteriophages typically attack only one or two specific types of bacteria.

In addition, “A3676P” showed strong environmental stability, maintaining high activity across a range of acidity levels (pH 4.0–10.0) and temperatures (25–45℃). It also demonstrated a strong ability to kill bacteria by beginning to replicate about 20 minutes after infecting bacteria and releasing approximately 120 new phage particles per host bacterium.

Based on the findings, the Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources plans to register a patent within the year for “Novel bacteriophage A3676P with broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter bacteria and its uses.”

“The phage we discovered is highly significant because it can simultaneously control multiple species of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter,” said Eui-jin Kim, head of the Biological Resources Research Office at the Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources. “It could be used not only to manage hospital-acquired infections but also as an environmentally friendly technology to replace antibiotics in various industrial fields.”