Thakur, D and Baishya, M and Sarma, B and Bora, T C and SAIKIA , R (2008) Antimicrobial Resistance in Gram Positive and Gram Negative Bacteria Progress and Challenges. In: Microbial Biotechnology. New India Publish Agency, New Delhi, pp. 349-375.

PDF (2712) - Published Version Download (879Kb)

Abstract

Serious infections caused by bacteria that have become resistant to commonly used antibiotics have become a major global healthcare problem in the 21st century. Antibiotic resistance, initially a problem of the hospital setting associated with an increased number of hospitals acquired infections usually in critically ill and immuno-suppressed patients, has now extended into the community causing severe infections difficult to diagnose and treat. In hospitals, most common resistant bacteria include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci and gram-negative rods including Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Vancomycin intermediate and resistant S. aureus, represent a new treatment challenge. In the community, penicillin and macrolide-resistant pneumococci developed several decades ago and are now present all over the world. More recently, community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus has become a problem in several countries causing skin infections but also severe diseases. The molecular mechanisms by which bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics are diverse and complex. Bacteria have developed resistance to all different classes of antibiotics discovered to date. The most frequent type of resistance is acquired and transmitted horizontally via the conjugation of a plasmid. In recent times new mechanisms of resistance have resulted in the simultaneous development of resistance to several antibiotic classes creating very dangerous multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains, some also known as 18 18superbugs 19 19. In many cases the use of 350 antibiotics is unnecessary or questionable. The indiscriminate and inappropriate use of antibiotics in outpatient clinics, hospitalized patients and in the food industry is the single largest factor leading to antibiotic resistance. In recent years, the number of new antibiotics licensed for human use in different parts of the world has been lower than in the recent past. In addition, there has been less innovation in the field of antimicrobial discovery research and development. The pharmaceutical industry, large academic institutions or the government are not investing the necessary resources to produce the next generation of newer safe and effective antimicrobial drugs. In many cases, large pharmaceutical companies have terminated their antiinfective research programs altogether due to economic reasons. The potential negative consequences of all these events are relevant because they put society at risk for the spread of potentially serious MDR bacterial infections.

Item Type:	Book Section
Subjects:	Biology > Biotechnology
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Dr. PK Barooah
Date Deposited:	29 Dec 2011 09:44
Last Modified:	29 Dec 2011 09:44
URI:	http://neist.csircentral.net/id/eprint/221

Actions (login required)

View Item