What We Know and What We Don't on Antimicrobial Resistance

Abstract

On a global scale, the agility of antimicrobial resistance became the foremost health concern in recent years. The evolution and spreading of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria are faster than previously thought. Microbial strain shows resistance to a wide range of antibiotics and is said to be multidrug resistant. Based on the degree of resistance, multidrug resistance is termed extensively as drug-resistant and pandrug-resistant. Antimicrobial-resistant strains are more challenging as very few or no treatment options are available. Antimicrobial resistance is observed in bacterial species and all the disease-causing agents, like fungi, viruses, and parasites. Acquiring a resistance gene, developing membrane impermeability, mutational alteration of the target protein, enzymatic degradation, and efflux pumping system are the key factors for the development of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. Molecular mechanisms for the appearance of antimicrobial resistance were cited since ancient periods. Many of the present pathways for resistance are highly associated with the past. Many resistance genes are available in the atmosphere, and it will be hard to predict which one would evolve in the host. Recently, a substantial health threat has been noticed with the emergence of multidrug resistance in soil bacteria. This kind of bacteria more evolved to hydrolyze the antibiotics and utilize the antibiotics as a carbon and nitrogen source. Many factors, such as consumption of broad-spectrum antibiotics, environmental pollution particularly by the pharmaceutical industry, and infection control practice in health-care bodies, contribute to multidrug resistance. To date, there are many approaches proposed, and lab trials are carried out to treat multidrug resistant bacteria, such as phage therapy, antimicrobial peptides, antibacterial antibodies, and nanoparticles. Antimicrobial resistance is an ignored health calamity that calls for attention and action.