Antibiotic resistance - treatment perspectives
World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) have joined efforts to reduce and prevent resistance development. A recent research from Switzerland looks into antibiotic resistance mechanisms, future treatment regimens and novel therapeutic approaches. Authors describe 2 resistance pathways: intrinsic process due to lack or presence of certain structures resulting in ineffectiveness of antibiotics and bacteria mutations in chromosomal genes. Molecular mechanisms are categorized in 3 mechanistic groups: reduction of intracellular antibiotic concentrations, modification of the antibiotic target and inactivation of the antibiotic. Different strategies have been suggested to specifically target bacterial persister cells. One of those is the use of bacteriophages, viruses that infect and lyse bacteria. Check the other novelties by the link!