Engineered reporter phages detect E. coli, Enterococcus and Klebsiella in urine within 5 hours

ETH Zurich researchers genetically engineered two virulent phages per uropathogen (E. coli, Enterococcus spp., Klebsiella spp.) to express a nanoluciferase reporter on infection and tested the bioluminescence assay on 206 patient urine samples. Specificity was 99% for each pathogen and sensitivity 68%, 78% and 87% respectively, at a resolution of at least 10^3 CFU/ml within 5 hours; the authors also see reporter phages as companion diagnostics for matching patients to therapeutic phages.