Chapter 4 - Combating human bacterial infections: need for new antibacterial drugs and therapeutics

Abstract

Bacteria are cosmopolitan in nature and are present even inside Human gut, lungs, and on skin surfaces. Most of the bacteria are beneficial, but some strains are pathogenic and some of them are zoonotic. Bacterial infection could range in severity from latent infection to active infection depending on their pathogenicity and are affecting millions of individuals worldwide (Mir and Al-baradie, 2013). The common examples of pathogenic bacteria include S. epidermis, Staphylococcus, Bacteriodes, and Enterobacteriaceae. Some bacterial infections acted as the significant public health threat worldwide. Salmonellosis caused by the salmonella enteric subspecies enterica serovar Typhimurium accounts for about 93.8million cases annually and is associated with death toll up to 150,000 every year. Salmonella typhimurium has been identified as the most common serovar causing nontyphoidal salmonella infection which accounts for about 63.7% in children less than 5years of age worldwide. Besides salmonellosis, tuberculosis and cholera are also the life-threatening foodborne bacterial infections globally. The major concern in the present times is resistance developed by the pathogenic bacteria against the antibiotics to withstand the adverse effects of drugs, resulting in their efficiency of virulence. The major classes of drugs commonly used for bacterial infections include penicillin, tetracycline, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, macrolides, and sulfonamides. In this chapter we will discuss some major bacterial infections, their nature, novel antibacterial targets, and present approach of therapeutics to combat their infection.