Transmission Of Drug-resistant Organisms Research Articles

Antimicrobial resistance: new insights and therapeutic implications.

Antimicrobial resistance has not been a new phenomenon. Still, the number of resistant organisms, the geographic areas affected by emerging drug resistance, and the magnitude of resistance in a single organism are enormous and mounting. Disease and disease-causing agents formerly thought to be contained by antibiotics are now returning in new forms resistant to existing therapies. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most severe and complicated health issues globally, driven by interrelated dynamics in humans, animals, and environmental health sectors. Coupled with various epidemiological factors and a limited pipeline for new antimicrobials, all these misappropriations allow the transmission of drug-resistant organisms. The problem is likely to worsen soon. Antimicrobial resistance in general and antibiotic resistance in particular is a shared global problem. Actions taken by any single country can adversely or positively affect the other country. Targeted coordination and prevention strategies are critical in stopping the spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms and hence its overall management. This article has provided in-depth knowledge about various methods that can help mitigate the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance globally. KEY POINTS: • Overview of antimicrobial resistance as a global challenge and explain various reasons for its rapid progression. • Brief about the intrinsic and acquired resistance to antimicrobials and development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. • Systematically organized information is provided on different strategies for tackling antimicrobial resistance for the welfare of human health.

Bringing home unwelcome souvenirs: Travel and drug-resistant bacteria.

Antimicrobial resistance poses a significant threat to public health globally and in Canada. Wide regional variability in antimicrobial resistance and ongoing increases in global travel present an important risk for the acquisition and transmission of drug-resistant organisms. Travel from high-income to low- and middle-income countries, particularly the Indian subcontinent, present the greatest risks for acquiring a drug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Risk factors for returning from travel with drug-resistant organisms include seeking medical care while abroad, travellers' diarrhea and antibiotic use. Health care professionals can play an important role in preventing harm for travellers by counselling patients on the risks of acquiring drug-resistant organisms, appropriate antibiotic prescribing for travellers' diarrhea and tailored empiric therapy for patients presenting with infection after travel.

Mechanisms of Microbial Resistance to Known Antibiotics

Most infectious diseases are known to be caused by microorganisms. The discovery of antimicrobial agents has saved the human race from a lot of sufferings due to the burden of these infectious diseases. Over the years, microorganisms have developed resistance to known antibiotics. Antimicrobial resistance among bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other disease-causing organisms is a serious threat to infectious disease management globally. Factors responsible for antimicrobial resistance include changing microbial characteristics, selective pressures of antimicrobial use, as well as societal and technological changes that enhance the development and transmission of drug-resistant organisms. Microbial resistance to antibiotics can either be intrinsic or acquired. Different mechanisms of microbial resistance to known antibiotics have been proposed. These include antibiotic inactivation, ribosome protection, biofilm formation, target modification, reduced permeability to antimicrobial agents and increasing efflux of antibiotics from microbial cells. It is believed that the understanding of these mechanisms is important in the discovery of better ways to keep existing agents useful and also in the design of better antimicrobial agents that are not affected by the currently known, predicted, or unknown mechanisms of resistance.

Preventing the transmission of drug-resistant organisms

Preventing the transmission of drug-resistant organisms

Infectious Disease Comorbidities Adversely Affecting Substance Users With HIV: Hepatitis C and Tuberculosis

The linkage between drug use, particularly injection drug use, and HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C (HCV), and tuberculosis (TB) has been recognized since the beginning of the HIV pandemic. These comorbid conditions affect drug users worldwide and act synergistically, with resultant adverse biologic, epidemiologic, and clinical consequences. Prevention, care, and treatment of TB and HCV can be successful, and both diseases can be cured. Special clinical challenges among drug users, however, can result in increased morbidity, mortality, and decreased therapeutic success. Among these are limited disease screening, inadequate and insensitive diagnostics, difficult treatment regimens with varying toxicities, and complicated pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic drug interactions. These may result in delayed diagnosis, deferred treatment initiation, and low completion rates, with the potential for generation and transmission of drug resistant organisms. Strategies to address these challenges include outreach programs to engage substance abusers in nonmedical settings, such as prisons and the streets, active screening programs for HIV, HCV, and TB, increased and broadened clinician expertise, knowledge and avoidance of drug interactions, attention to infection control, use of isoniazid preventive therapy, and creative strategies to insure medication adherence. All of these require structural changes directed at comprehensive prevention and treatment programs and increased collaboration and integration of needed services for substance abusers.