In the last two decades, the rate at which bacteria are becoming resistant to current antibiotic treatments has substantially increased. Antibiotic resistance is a form of drug resistance whereby some sub-populations of a microorganism are able to survive after exposure to one or more antibiotics. One of the triggers for this is due to the overuse of use medicines, as arises from mis-prescribing or the use of antibiotics with farm animals.

This trend is threatening the ability of medical staff to carry out routine operations or transplants in the future, or for medics to treat patients. This has been compounded not only by microorganisms that are resistant to one antimicrobial or another, but due to the rise of multi-drug resistant microorganisms (the so-termed ‘super bugs’). Prominent examples include MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), VISA (vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus), VRSA (vancomycin-resistant S. aureus), ESBL (Extended spectrum beta-lactamase), VRE (vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus) and MRAB (multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii).

To understand the current state of antimicrobial research, Tim Sandle has written a new article.

"Renewed focus on the need to develop new antimicrobials and new methods for treating patients with bacterial infections. The current state of the antibiotic market is troubling. Funding is scarce, big pharmaceutical companies are shuttering their research and development programs and much of the burden is being left to smaller companies with fewer resources, or the initiatives are coming from government-backed programmes in academia. Despite the less-than-ideal rate of innovation, there are some interesting strands of work emerging (4). This articles surveys some of the more recent developments."




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Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology