Naturally occurring bacteriophages lyse a large proportion of canine and feline uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates in vitro

We investigated the feasibility of bacteriophage therapy to combat canine and feline Escherichia coli urinary tract infections (UTIs) by testing the in vitro lytic ability of 40 naturally occurring bacteriophages on 53 uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC). The mean number of UPEC strains lysed by an individual bacteriophage was 21/53 (40%, range 17–72%). In total, 50/53 (94%) of the UPEC strains were killed by one or more of the bacteriophages. Ten bacteriophages lysed ⩾51% of UPEC strains individually and 92% of UPEC strains as a group. Electron microscopy and DNA sequencing of 5 ‘promising’ bacteriophages revealed that 4 bacteriophages belonged to the lytic T4-like genus, while one displayed morphologic similarity to temperate P2-like bacteriophages. Overall, these results indicate that the majority of UPEC are susceptible to lysis by naturally occurring bacteriophages. Thus, bacteriophages show promise as therapeutic agents for treatment of canine and feline E. coli UTIs.