Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Therapy of Clinically Relevant Bacteria

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is a public health problem of major importance, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the current antibiotic armamentarium is not sufficient to face future challenges. The antibiotic pipeline is not providing new compounds at a sufficient speed for various reasons, and thus, few novel drugs have reached clinical practice lately; old, formerly abandoned antimicrobials are increasingly used as last-resort treatment options. At this pace, untreatable infections could emerge on a large scale, and the world may experience, in some cases, dramatic situations of the pre-antibiotic era. Already, clinicians in endemic areas routinely encounter patients with infections that do not respond to available treatments, and laboratories often report multidrug-resistant (MDR) or even pan-drug-resistant (PDR) bacteria. In this context, continuous monitoring of the resistance mechanisms’ epidemiology, as well as knowledge regarding treatment options for clinically relevant bacteria, are of great interest to health-care professionals. This Reprint includes articles that present new data on antimicrobial resistance and epidemiology of MDR bacterial infections of key clinical importance, as well as suitable therapeutic options for their treatment. Hopefully, these contributions will both practically benefit the readership and stimulate further research in the field.