Abstract

SUPERBUG INFECTION

Reshma Rajendran*

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance has led to the development of so-called ―superbugs‖ that no longer respond to the current treatment modalities. The antibiotics available to treat these infections are dwindling with very few antibiotics in the pipeline. Infectious diseases are one of the major causes of mortality in children in developing and underdeveloped countries. Limited knowledge of targets (cell wall synthesis, replication, transcription, protein synthesis) for antibiotics and lack of novel antibiotics have lead to an emergence of different level of resistance in bacterial pathogens. Multidrug resistance is the phenomenon by which the bacteria exert resistance against the two or more structurally unrelated drugs/antibiotics. In this review, the key mechanisms of resistance in bacterial superbugs have been discussed as well as that how we can overcome them.

Keywords: Superbug, Bacteria, Resistance, Antibiotics, MRSA.