Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance


Book Description

Antibiotics represent one of the most successful forms of therapy in medicine. But the efficiency of antibiotics is compromised by the growing number of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Antibiotic resistance, which is implicated in elevated morbidity and mortality rates as well as in the increased treatment costs, is considered to be one of the major global public health threats (www.who.int/drugresistance/en/) and the magnitude of the problem recently prompted a number of international and national bodies to take actions to protect the public (http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/docs/road-map-amr_en.pdf: http://www.who.int/drugresistance/amr_global_action_plan/en/; http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/carb_national_strategy.pdf). Understanding the mechanisms by which bacteria successfully defend themselves against the antibiotic assault represent the main theme of this eBook published as a Research Topic in Frontiers in Microbiology, section of Antimicrobials, Resistance, and Chemotherapy. The articles in the eBook update the reader on various aspects and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. A better understanding of these mechanisms should facilitate the development of means to potentiate the efficacy and increase the lifespan of antibiotics while minimizing the emergence of antibiotic resistance among pathogens.




Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria: A Challenge to Modern Medicine


Book Description

This book summarizes the emerging trends in the field of antibiotic resistance of various gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial species. The ability of different species of bacteria to resist the antimicrobial agent has become a global problem. As such, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the advances in our understanding of the origin and mechanism of resistance, discusses the modern concept of the biochemical and genetic basis of antibacterial resistance and highlights the clinical and economic implications of the increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistant pathogens and their ecotoxic effects. It also reviews various strategies to curtail the emergence and examines a number of innovative therapeutic approaches, such as CRISPR, phage therapy, nanoparticles and natural antimicrobials, to combat the spread of resistance.




Antimicrobial Resistance


Book Description

Summary report published as technical document with reference number: WHO/HSE/PED/AIP/2014.2.




Antimicrobial Resistance in Developing Countries


Book Description

Avoiding infection has always been expensive. Some human populations escaped tropical infections by migrating into cold climates but then had to procure fuel, warm clothing, durable housing, and crops from a short growing season. Waterborne infections were averted by owning your own well or supporting a community reservoir. Everyone got vaccines in rich countries, while people in others got them later if at all. Antimicrobial agents seemed at first to be an exception. They did not need to be delivered through a cold chain and to everyone, as vaccines did. They had to be given only to infected patients and often then as relatively cheap injectables or pills off a shelf for only a few days to get astonishing cures. Antimicrobials not only were better than most other innovations but also reached more of the world’s people sooner. The problem appeared later. After each new antimicrobial became widely used, genes expressing resistance to it began to emerge and spread through bacterial populations. Patients infected with bacteria expressing such resistance genes then failed treatment and remained infected or died. Growing resistance to antimicrobial agents began to take away more and more of the cures that the agents had brought.







Antibiotic Drug Resistance


Book Description

This book presents a thorough and authoritative overview of the multifaceted field of antibiotic science – offering guidance to translate research into tools for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases. Provides readers with knowledge about the broad field of drug resistance Offers guidance to translate research into tools for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases Links strategies to analyze microbes to the development of new drugs, socioeconomic impacts to therapeutic strategies, and public policies to antibiotic-resistance-prevention strategies




Challenges to Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance


Book Description

An accessible overview of the challenges in tackling AMR, and the economic and policy responses of the 'One Health' approach. It will appeal to policy-makers seeking to strengthen national and local polices tackling AMR, as well as students and academics who want an overview of the latest scientific evidence regarding effective AMR policies.




Microbial Threats to Health


Book Description

Infectious diseases are a global hazard that puts every nation and every person at risk. The recent SARS outbreak is a prime example. Knowing neither geographic nor political borders, often arriving silently and lethally, microbial pathogens constitute a grave threat to the health of humans. Indeed, a majority of countries recently identified the spread of infectious disease as the greatest global problem they confront. Throughout history, humans have struggled to control both the causes and consequences of infectious diseases and we will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. Following up on a high-profile 1992 report from the Institute of Medicine, Microbial Threats to Health examines the current state of knowledge and policy pertaining to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases from around the globe. It examines the spectrum of microbial threats, factors in disease emergence, and the ultimate capacity of the United States to meet the challenges posed by microbial threats to human health. From the impact of war or technology on disease emergence to the development of enhanced disease surveillance and vaccine strategies, Microbial Threats to Health contains valuable information for researchers, students, health care providers, policymakers, public health officials. and the interested public.




The Evolving Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance


Book Description

Antibiotic resistance development is a natural process of adaption leading to a limited lifespan of antibiotics. Unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics favours the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. A crisis has been building up over decades, so that today common and life-threatening infections are becoming difficult or even impossible to treat. It is time to take much stronger action worldwide to avert an ever increasing health and economic burden. A new WHO publication "The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance--Options for action" describes examples of policy activities that have addressed AMR in different parts of the world. The aim is to raise awareness and to stimulate further coordinated efforts.