Abstract
The golden age of discovery of novel antibiotic classes started in the 1950s and lasted through the 1970s [1]. Since then there has been millions of metric tons of antibiotics produced. The advent of antibiotics has certainly benefited society in enumerable ways over the last several decades. However, Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered the first antibiotic, was the first who cautioned about the potential resistance to penicillin if used inappropriately [2]. Most consider the over use and irresponsible use of antibiotics to have contributed to the significant increase in resistant strains of bacteria [3]. For example, methicillin was synthesized as the first semisynthetic penicillinase-resistant variant of pencillin in 1961 to fight the pencillinase producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus. Unfortunately, resistance was soon reported in strains of this bacterium [4]. Most funding for research in recent years has focused on the modification of the existing scaffolding to fight emerging and re-emerging pathogens [1]. Given the fact that new drug discovery has been rare, there is a real concern over the ever-increasing rate of drug resistant bacteria. In fact, most classes of antibiotics on the market were discovered in the so called golden age of drug discovery [5]. A January 2015 article in Nature, was the most recent to describe a new antibiotic over the last five years. The fact is that there is a limited arsenal of drugs to fight the ever-increasing numbers of multidrug resistant strains of bacteria [6]. Despite a focus on education with regard to proper use of antibiotics there has been an exponential increase in antibiotic resistance [7]. We actually see a difference in the rate of resistance between the developing world and developed world. A major reason is the fact that most of the antibiotics are now available without a prescription as over-the counter in developed nations [6]. Availability and inappropriate use is most certainly contributing to the global antibiotic resistance crisis.
Highlights
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 2 million people per year become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, which results in at least 23,000 deaths as a direct result of these infections
Many studies have demonstrated the existence of bacteria in samples that cannot be cultured in the laboratory [5,9,10]
An estimated 99% of bacterial species fail to grow under normal laboratory condi- tions
Summary
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 2 million people per year become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, which results in at least 23,000 deaths as a direct result of these infections. The growing gap between how fast microbes are developing resistance and the development of new antimicrobials is a major public health threat [6]. The evolution of microbial drug resistance necessitates the discovery of new structural classes of antimicrobials. It has been concluded that most of the culturable bacteria from soils has been described and most prior to the 1960s [8,9].
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