An increasingly dangerous threat to global public health: Anti- microbial resistance

Review Article

Abstract

Infectious diseases have claimed millions of lives, making antibiotics one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century. Antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics are examples of antimicrobials, which are drugs that are used to treat and prevent infections in humans, animals, and plants. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is the result of an organism's gradual change over time that causes bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites to become resistant to antibiotics. This makes infections more difficult to treat and raises the risk of disease transmission, serious illness, and death. Drug resistance makes antimicrobial drugs like antibiotics and others ineffective, making it harder or impossible to treat infections. Our ability to treat common infections is still in danger due to the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens that have developed new resistance mechanisms, or antimicrobial resistance. The rapid global spread of "superbugs," or multi- and pan-resistant bacteria, which cause infections that are resistant to current antimicrobial treatments like antibiotics, is particularly concerning. If coordinated cooperative action is not taken immediately both within and across various national and international organizations, a post antibiotic era may become a reality rather than a dystopian nightmare for the twenty-first century. The mechanisms and contributing factors to microbial resistance as well as important tactics to counteract antimicrobial resistance are highlighted in this narrative review