Antimicrobial Resistance and Respiratory Infections.

Antimicrobial Resistance and Respiratory Infections.
Chest. 2018 Jun 27;:
Authors: Guitor AK, Wright GD
Abstract
Since their introduction into healthcare and clinical practice in the early 20th century, antibiotics have revolutionized medicine. Alarmingly, these drugs are increasingly threatened by bacteria that have developed a broad diversity of resistance mechanisms. Antibiotic resistance can be transferred between bacteria, often on mobile genetic elements, acquired from the environment, or arise through mutation due to selective pressures of the drugs themselves. There are various strategies to resistance including active efflux of the drug from the bacterial cell, reduced permeability of the cell envelope, alteration of the drug's target within the bacterial cell, and modification or destruction of the antibiotic. Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis are frequently implicated in respiratory infections often presenting with reduced susceptibility to multiple classes of antibiotics. Some mechanisms of resistance, such as the β-lactamases that confer resistance to penicillins and related drugs, have been well characterized and are widespread in clinical isolates. Other newly identified determinants, including the colistin resistance gene mcr-1, are rapidly spreading worldwide and threaten last resort treatments of multi-drug resistant organisms. Various approache...

Source: Chest - June 27, 2018 Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Guitor AK, Wright GD Tags: Chest Source Type: research