Recent Approaches and New Challenges of Antibiotics

Antibiotics are the chemical agents that will prevent bacterial growth by stopping the bacterial cell from killing (bactericidal) or by dividing them (bacteriostatics). So, antibiotics are the essential part of medicines used for both animals and human health. In 1990s the antibiotics were first discovered to fight against microorganism. Based on their chemical structures the antibiotics are grouped into several classes. For several decades, antibiotics have been critical in fight against infectious diseases caused by bacteria and other microbes. Wound infections, tuberculosis, pneumoniae, gonorrhea, viral infections such as common cold, flu, cough are just a few of the diseases that are treated with antibiotics. The antibiotics therapy for emerging hard to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections is limited, resulting in high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Apparently most pathogenic microorganisms have the capability of developing resistance to atleast some antimicrobial agents. The main mechanisms of resistance are: limiting uptake of drug, modification of a drug target, inactivation of a drug and active efflux of a drug. Drug resistant infections are on the rise everywhere, and threatening public health on a major port0ion, the discovery of novel antibiotics capable of countering the counterattack by these organisms has become an emergency. Urinary tract infections, newborn infections and chemotherapy, to take just a few instances, are becoming rapidly unsafe because of the lack of working antibiotics to counter just five bacterias, including Escherichia coli (E. coli), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Drug resistant tuberculosis is another big challenge, with over half a million cases at present, posing a high risk of infections to children. Even when novel antibiotics are developed, eventually resistance should crop up to them as well, making it significant to constantly come up with new preventive and diagnostic methods, as well as control and surveillance of contagious infections.