Challenges and Emerging Molecular Approaches in Combating Antimicrobial Resistance

Antimicrobial agents have been a crucial discovery in modern medicine and have revolutionized the treatment of infectious diseases.However, the rampant overuse and misuse of these agents have resulted in the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a global public health crisis that could lead to millions of deaths and severe economic losses.The dramatic rise in the occurrence of AMR-related deaths marks the beginning of the "post-antibiotic era."As experts continue to work on devising new strategies that circumvent the development of AMR, focusing on a deeper understanding of the molecular factors that contribute to the persistence and transmission of resistance is the key approach in designing new therapeutic targets.This paper explores the various strategies that bacteria employ to evade the effects of antibiotics and provides an overview of the challenges in treating multidrug-resistant bacteria, including carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, extended-spectrum -lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, multidrug-resistant (MDR)-Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and MDR-Mycobacterium tuberculosis.Emerging strategies for addressing antibiotic resistance, such as nanomaterials-based antimicrobials and CRISPR-Cas9 technology are also elucidated.