A lytic bacteriophage isolated from
sewage water was found to attack drugresistant
Klebsiella pneumoniae DR1
isolated from a clinical specimen. The
phage, designated kpdr1, had an
isomeric head (60 nm in diameter) with
a contractile tail (93 nm long and 13
nm wide). It was identified in
Myoviridae family. From the host
range test, the phage was highly
specific to K. pneumoniae DR1. A onestep
growth experiment of phage
kpdr1 at 37 C after the phage
infection showed that the latent period
was 30 min, the burst period was 180
min, and the average burst size was
about 52 phage particles/infected cell.
The phage was able to survive after
incubating at 37 C for 24 h in pH 5-12.
The phage was also stable at the
temperature of 60 C for at least 3 min.
Various disinfectants could inactivate
the phage after treating at 37 C for 24
h. Knowledge of the properties of K.
pneumoniae DR1 bacteriophage
kpdr1 may be important for the
development of controlled infection.