Pulling the Brakes on Fast and Furious Multiple Drug-Resistant (MDR) Bacteria

Abstract

Life-threatening bacterial infections have been managed by antibiotics for years and have significantly improved the wellbeing and lifetime of humans. However, bacteria have always been one step ahead by inactivating the antimicrobial agent chemically or by producing certain enzymes. The alarming universal occurrence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria has compelled researchers to find alternative treatments for MDR infections. This is a menace where conventional chemotherapies are no longer promising, but several novel approaches could help. Our current review article discusses the novel approaches that can combat MDR bacteria: starting off with potential nanoparticles (NPs) that efficiently interact with microorganisms causing fatal changes in the morphology and structure of these cells; nanophotothermal therapy using inorganic NPs like AuNPs to destroy pathogenic bacterial cells; bacteriophage therapy against which bacteria develop less resistance; combination drugs that act on dissimilar targets in distinctive pathways; probiotics therapy by the secretion of antibacterial chemicals; blockage of quorum sensing signals stopping bacterial colonization, and vaccination against resistant bacterial strains along with virulence factors. All these techniques show us a promising future in the fight against MDR bacteria, which remains the greatest challenge in public health care.

A Comprehensive Computer Aided Vaccine Design Approach to Propose a Multi-Epitopes Subunit Vaccine against Genus Klebsiella Using Pan-Genomics, Reverse Vaccinology, and Biophysical Techniques

“…Such procedures are costly and time consuming. One disadvantage of the conventional vaccinology is that it is not appropriate for pathogens such as Klebsiella species, as the genus comprises diverse species each having variety of strains [22]. The search for finding conserved antigens, together with their processing and assessment, would be exhaustive.…”

Carriage of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria in Healthy People: Recognition of Several Risk Groups

“…Some attempts have been made to apply this method for the case of MDR carriage, but the results have not been convincing. In a meta-analysis, the success rate was found to vary from 37.5% to 87.5% [41].…”

Understanding immune-modulatory efficacy in vitro

“…In human, the immune system is equipped to fight off invading wide array of potential pathogens that may cause diseases. For the last 70 years, the health sector has heavily relied on antimicrobial drugs that has now resulted in generation of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria [ 1 ]. In that note, therapeutic strategies based on improving the defence mechanism have several advantages over the use of traditional antibiotics [ 2 ].…”