Drug Resistant Pathogens

Abstract

At a time when resistance to existing antimicrobials is on the rise, and the development and regulatory approval of new chemical entities to treat microbial infections is plummeting, we are facing a medical and public health crisis that was aptly named the post-antibiotic era. Resistance has invariably been described to all antimicrobial drugs used in clinical medicine, and sometimes it emerged within a record time after their commercialization. The use of antimicrobials for applications different from human medicine, such as agriculture, aquaculture, and animal farming, cross-contamination with antimicrobial resistant bacteria during food processing, and the possibility that resistance determinants may be present in bacteria that are used for food production, such as starter cultures or probiotics, are among the factors that increase the likelihood of contamination with resistant pathogens or with antimicrobials or their metabolites.Understanding the emergence and the dynamics of resistant foodborne pathogens represents a fundamental facet of the multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary framework that is indispensable for addressing the global threat of antimicrobial resistance.