Biofilm-Associated Multi-Drug Resistance in Hospital-Acquired Infections: A Review

Abstract

Biofilm-related multi-drug resistance (MDR) is a major problem in hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) that increase patient morbidity and mortality rates and economic burdens such as high healthcare costs and prolonged hospital stay. This review focuses on the burden of bacterial biofilm in the hospital settings, their impact on the emergence of MDR in the HAIs, biofilm detection methods, recent approaches against biofilms, and future perspectives. The prevalence of biofilm-associated MDR among HAIs ranges from 17.9% to 100.0% worldwide. The predominant bacterial isolates causing HAIs in recently published studies were S. aureus , A. baumannii, K. pneumoniae , and P. aeruginosa . In addition to the use of qualitative and quantitative methods to detect biofilm formation, advanced PCR-based techniques have been performed for detecting biofilm-associated genes. Although there are suggested therapeutic strategies against biofilms, further confirmation of their efficacy for in vivo application and antibiotics targeting biofilm-associated genes/proteins to minimize treatment failure is required for the future.

Increased Levels of (p)ppGpp Correlate with Virulence and Biofilm Formation, but Not with Growth, in Strains of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

“…The relevance of the consequences of biofilm formation and drug resistance to the severity of the infection [ 37 ] prompted us to delve deeper into the characteristics of the strains and compare the different traits among them. We showed that the multidrug resistance profile of isolates was significantly more frequent in the group of strains capable of biofilm formation on CRA when compared to the non-biofilm forming group ( Table 3 ).…”

Antibacterial, Anti-Biofilm and Pro-Migratory Effects of Double Layered Hydrogels Packaged with Lactoferrin-DsiRNA-Silver Nanoparticles for Chronic Wound Therapy

“…However, with the advancement of medicines, such as humans, microorganisms, such as bacteria, have also gone through numerous evolutions to thrive in harsh and foul environments [ 16 , 17 ]. Bacteria can form biofilms, which are a plethora of different species living under a matrix made up of exopolysaccharides (EPS) that can protect themselves from the harmful effects of traditional antibiotics, AgNPs, and Ag + due to its complex structure [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Hence, the same concentration of AgNPs usually effective against planktonic bacteria will not work the same against bacteria protected in a biofilm [ 11 ].…”

Easy and Affordable: A New Method for the Studying of Bacterial Biofilm Formation

“…Bacterial biofilm formation (BBF) is usually a multi-step process, involving the attachment of the bacteria to the substrate, the formation of microcolonies, the growth and maturation of the microcolonies into the mature biofilm and finally the dispersion of the mature biofilm [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. In recent years, new data have shown the frequent involvement of biofilms in human pathologies.…”

“…In recent years, new data have shown the frequent involvement of biofilms in human pathologies. Examples of biofilm mediated infections include endocarditis, prosthetic device infections, and catheter-related urinary tract infections and bacteremia [ 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Unsurprisingly, there is a brand-new worldwide trend to study BBF, its involvement in human infections and the means of eradication.…”