Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Emerging antibiotic resistance in bacteria with special reference to India

  • Published:
Journal of Biosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The antibiotic era started in the 1940s and changed the profile of infectious diseases and human demography. The burgeoning classes and numbers promised much and elimination of this major cause of human (and animal) morbidity appeared possible. Bacterial antibiotic resistance which was observed soon after antibiotic introduction has been studied extensively. Diverse mechanisms have been demonstrated and the genetic basis elucidated. The resilience of the prokaryote ecosystems to antibiotic stress has been realized. The paper presents these subjects briefly to afford an overview. The epidemiology of antibiotic resistance is dealt with and community practices in different countries are described. The role of high antibiotic usage environments is indicated. The implication of the wide use of antibiotics in animals has been pointed out. Steadily increasing antibiotic resistance and decreasing numbers of newer antibiotics appear to point to a post-antibiotic period during which treatment of infections would become increasingly difficult. This article attempts to review the global antimicrobial resistance scene and juxtaposes it to the Indian experience. The prevalence in India of antibiotic resistance among major groups of pathogens is described. The factors that determine the prevalent high antibiotic resistance rates have been highlighted. The future research activity to ensure continued utility of antibiotics in the control of infections has been indicated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

CA-MRSA:

community-associated methicillian-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

LRTI:

lower respiratory tract infection

MDR:

multidrug resistant

MIC:

minimum inhibitory concentration

MOTT:

mycobacteria other than tuberculosis

URT:

upper respiratory tract

VRE:

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci

References

  • Albrich W C, Monnet D L and Harbarth S 2004 Antibiotic Selection Pressure and Resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes; Emerging Infect. Dis. 10 514–517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anand A C, Kataria V K, Singh W and Chatterjee S K 1990 Epidemic multiresistant enteric fever in eastern Indian; Lancet 335 352

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson D I and Levin B R 1999 The biological cost of antibiotic resistance; Curr. Opin. Microbol. 2 489–493

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arakere G, Nadig S, Swedberg G, Macaden R, Amarnath S K and Raghunath D 2005 Genotyping of Methicillin — Resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains from two hospitals in Bangalore, South India; J. Clin. Microbiol. 43 3198–3202

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arora S, Saha S and Bal M 2007 Imipenen-resistance among multidrug resistant clinical strains in urinary infections from Kolkata; Indian J. Med. Res. 125 689–691

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin D J and Anderson R M 1999 Studies of antibiotic resistance with in the patient, hospitals and the community using simple mathematical models; Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London B. Biol. Sci. 354 721–738

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baby Padmini S and Appalaraju B 2004 Extended spectrum ßlactamases in urinary isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae prevalence and susceptibility pattern in a tertiary care hospital; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 22 172–174

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bansal D, Sehgal R, Chawla Y, Malla N and Mahajan R C 2006 Multi-drug reistance in amoebiasis patients; Indian J. Med. Res. 124 189–194

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barber M 1961 Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus; J. Clin. Pathol. 14 385–393

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • British Braodcasting Corporation:’Red Army’ virus to combat MRSA by Clare Murphy available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6943779-stm accessed: 8th May 2008

  • Capoor M R, Nair D, Deb M, Batra K and Aggarwal P 2006 Resistance to erythromycin and rising penicillin MIC in Streptococcus pyogenes in India; Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. 59 334–336

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carbon C, Cars O and Christiansenle 2002 Moving from recommendation to implementation and audit: Part I, Current recommendations and programsL: a critical commentary; Clin. Microbiol. Infect. (Suppl. 2) 8 92–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carillo C L, Atterbury R J, El-shiring A, Connerton P L, Dillon E, Scott A and Connerton I F 2005 Bacteriophage therapy to reduce Campylobacter Jejuni colonization of Broiler chickens; Appl.Environ. Microbiol. 71 6554–6563

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick D, Whelan J and Widdow K 1992 Secondary metabolites: their function and evolution; in Secondary metabolites: Their function and evolution (eds) D Chadwick, J Whelan and K Widdows K (Ciba Foundation Symposium 171) (Chichaster: John Wiley)

    Google Scholar 

  • Contessobto S C, Camara S M, Avniks M J, Ojed A, Eanriet J M, Cascales B I and Rodrigues S F 2000 Rational use of antibiotics in paediatrics; impact of a rapid test for detection of betahaemolytic group. A Streptococci in acute pharynglotitis; An. Esp. Pediatr. 52 212–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C 1859 On the origin of species by means of natural selection (London Murray) Accessed at http://www.literature.org/authors/drawin-charles/the-origin-of-species

  • Das U and Bhattacharya S S 2006 Antibiogram, phage typing and biotyping of Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella paratyphi A from Rourkela, Orissa; Indian J. Med. Res. 124 109–111

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Bruin M A and Rilay L W 2007 Does vancomycin prescribing intervention affect vancomycin-resistant enterococcus infection and colonization in hospitals? A systematic review; BMC Infect. Dis. 7 24 (Accessed: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/7/24 11 pages)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ebenezer G J, Norman G, Joseph A, Daniel S and Job C K 2002. Drug resistant Mycobaterium leprae - results of mouse footpad studies from a laboratory in south India; Indian J. Lepr. 74 301–312

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Enright M C, Robinson D A, Randle G, Feil E J, Grundmann H and Spratt B G 2002 The evolutionary history of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99 7687–7692

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Falton A I, Horwith G, Fuller S, Propst M and Nasco R. 2004 Development of Staph VAX, a poly saccharide conjugate vaccine against S.aureus infection from lab bench to phase III clinical trials; Vaccine 22 880–887

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal U, Garg A, Tiwari D P and Ayyagiri A 2006 Emerging vancomycin resistance in enterococci in India; Indian J. Pathol. Microbiol. 49 620–622

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goyal R, Singh NP, Kaur M and Talwar V 2007 Antimicrobial resistance in invasice and colonizing Streptococcus pneumoniae in North India; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 25 256–259

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood D 2003 Historical introduction; in Antibiotic and chemotherapy 8th editions (eds) R G Finch, D Greenwood and R S Norrby (Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone) pp 3–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta E, Mohanty S, Sood S, Dhawan B, Das B K and Kapil A. 2006. Emerging resistance to carbapenemns in a tertiaty care hospital in north India; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 124 95–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Harbarth S, Cosgrove S and Carmeli Y 2002 Effects of Antibiotics on Nosocomial Epidemiology of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci; Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 46 1619–1628

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herold B C, Immergluck L C, Maranan M C, Laudadale D S, Gaskin R E, Boyle-Vauna S, Leiteh C D and Danm R S 1998 Community acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in children with no identified predisporing rish; JAMA 279 593–598

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hubert Ph.E, Gijs J R, Bert vank, Wim H J, Tanny vander R and Monton R P 1991 Quinolone resistance in Camphylobacter isolated from man and poultry following introduction of fluroquinolones in Veterinary medicine; J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 27 199–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jae-Hoon S, Sook-In J, Kwan S K, Na Y K, Jun S S, Hyun-Ha C, Hyun K K, Won S O et al 2004 High prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among clinical Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates in Asia (an ANSORP study); Antimicrobiol. Agents Chemother. 48 2101–2107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jain A, Kumar P and Awasthi S 2005 High nasopharyrgal carriage of drug resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae in North Indian school children; Trop. Med. Int. Health 10 234–239

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain A, Kumar P and Awasthi S 2006 High ampicillin resistance in different biotypes and serotypes of Haemophilus influenzae colonizing the nasopharyrox of healthy school-going Indian Children; J. Med. Microbiol. 55 133–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain A and Mandal R 2007 Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance pattern of extended spectrum β-lactamase producing Klebsiella spp isolated from cases of neonatal speticaemia; Indian J. Med. Res. 125 89–94

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jesudasan M V, Mukundan U, Saaya R, Vanitha K and Lalitha M K 2003. Resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the first line anti tubercular drugs — a twenty year review; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 21 127–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Jha T K 2006 Drug unresponsiveness and combination therapy for Kala Azar; Indian J Med Res. 123 389–398

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kapila K 2008. The Saga of Antibiotic Sensitivity in Salmonallae over the last sixteen years: A Report from Department of Microbiology, AFMC, Pune, Maharashtra:; in Proceedings of the 9th Sir Dorabji Tata Symposium Bangalore (India) 10–11 March 2008 (in press)

  • Karmarkar M G, Gershom E S and Mehta P R 2004 Enterococcal infection with special reference to phenotypic characterization and drug resistance; Indian J. Med. Res. (Suppl.) 119 22–25

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khaki P, Bhalla P, Sharma A and Kumar V 2007 Correlation between in vitro susceptibility and treatment outcome with azithromycin in gonorrhoea: A prospective study; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 25 334–337

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar M S, Lakshmi V and Rajagopalan R 2006 Occurence of extended spectrum, βlactamases among Enterobacteriaceae spp isolated at a tertiary care institute; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 24 208–211

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lalitha M K 2008. Antibiotic Resistance among Streptococcus pneumonaie; in Proceedings of 9th Sir Dorabji Tata Symposium (eds) C Durga Rao and D Raghunath (in press)

  • Leclerq R, Detlot E, Duval J and Courvalin P 1988 Plasmid-mediated resistance to vancomycin and teicoplanin in Enterococcus faecium; N. Engl. J. Med. 319 157–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipsitah M, Bergstrom C T and Levin B R 2000 The epidemiology of antibiotic resistance in hospitals: paradoxes and prescriptions; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97 1938–1943

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livermore D 2004 Can better prescribing turn the tide of resistance?; Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 2 73–78

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Madeinos A A 1997 Evolution and dissemination of betalactamases accelerated by generation of beta lactum antibiotics; Clin. Infect. Dis. 29 1419–1422

    Google Scholar 

  • Manchanda V, Gupta S and Bhalla P 2006 Meningococcal disease: History, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, antimicrobial susceptibility and prevention; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 24 7–19

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez - Martinez L, Pascnal A and Jacoby G A 1998 Quinolone resistance from a transferable plasmid; Lancet 351 797–799

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty S, Patel D K, Pati S S and Mishra S K 2006 Adjuvant therapy in cerebral malaria; Indian J. Med. Res. 124 245–260

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy G.S, Basrilt, Purnomo, Anderson E M, Bangs M J, Mount D L et al 1993 Vivax malaria resistant to treatment and prophylaxis with chloroquine. Lancet 341 96–100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murray B E 2000 Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcal Infections; N. Engl. J. Med. 342 710–721

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Munoz-Price L S and Weinstein R A 2008 Acinetobacter Infection in current concepts; N. Engl. J. Med. 358 1271–1281

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nadig S, Namburi P, Raghunath D and Arakere G 2006. Genotyping of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from Indian hospitals; Curr. Sci. 91 1364–1359

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nair G B 2007 How much more research is required to prevent cholera?; Indian J. Med. Res. 125 612–614

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Niyogi S K, Mitra U and Dutta P 2001 Changing pattern of serotypes and antimicrobial susceptibility of Shigella species isolated from children in Calcutta; Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. 54 121–122

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nordberg P, Monet D L and Cars O 2004 Background document for WHO project: Priority Medicines for Europe and the World “A Public Health approach to Innovation”. Accessible http://mednet3.who.int/priorityneeds

  • Paramasivam C N 1998 An overview of drug resistant tuberculosis in India; Indian J. Tubercul. 45 73–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Pietersberg W 2001 Endogenoms Antimicrobial Molecules: An Ecological Perspective, Chapter 25

  • Pillai P K and Prakash K 1993 Current status of drug resistance and phage types of Salmonella typhi in India; Indian J. Med. Res. 97 154–158

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plowman R, Graves N, Griffin M A, Roberts J A, Swan A V, Cookson B and Taylor L 2001 The rate and art of hospital acquired infections occurring in patients admitted to selected specialities of a District General hospital and the national burden imposed; J. Hosp. Inf. 47 198–209

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prakash P V, Rao S R and Parija S C 2005 Emergence of unusual species of enterococci causing infections, South India; BMC Infect. Dis. 5 14 (Accessed at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/5/14)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prashant K and Badrinath S 2004 In vitro susceptibility pattern of Actinctobacter species to commonly use cephalosoporins, quinolones and aminoglycosides; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 22 97–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Raghunath D and Kher S K 1989 Antibiotic therapy of Salmonellosis. Editorial; Med. J. Armed Forces India 45 3–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramachandran R and Narayanan P R 2008 Current status of drug resistance of tuberculosis in India; in Proceedings of the 9th Sir Dorabji Tata Symposium March 10–11, 2008 (in press)

  • Rappuoli R and Coracci A 2003 Reverse vaccinology and genomics; Science 2003 302 602

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ray K, Bala M, Gupta S M, Khunger N, Puri P, Muralidhar S and Kumar J 2006 Changing trends in sexually transmitted infections at a Regional STD Centre in north India; Indian J. Med. Res. 124 559–568

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reed S D, Lakshminarayan R, Black D J and Sullivars S D 2002 Economic issues and antibiotic resistance in the community; Ann Pharm. 36 148–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Rice L B 2008 The Maxwell Finland Lecture: For the Duration-Rational Antibiotic Administration in an Era of Antimicrobial Resistance and Clostridium difficile; Clin. Infect. Dis. 46 491–496

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigues C 2008 XDR TB - a global perspective and in a tertiary Indian hospital with special focus on drug Susceptibility Testing (DST); in Proceedings of the 9th Sir Dorabji Tata Symposium March 10–11, 2008 (in press)

  • Rodrigues C, Joshi P, Jani S H, Alphonse M, Radhakrishnan R and Mehta A 2004 Detection of βlactamases in Nosocomial gram negative isolates; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 22 247–250

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saha D, Karim M M, Khan W A, Ahmed S, Salam M A and Bennish M L 2006. Single-dose azithromycin for the treatment of cholera in adults; New Engl. J. Med. 354 2452–2462

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scollard D M, Adams L R, Gillis T P, Krahenbubl J L, Truman R W, Williams D L 2006 The continuing challenges of Leprosy; Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 19 338–381

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sen B, Dutta S, Sur D, Manna B, Dev A K, Bhattacharya S K and Niyogi S K 2007 Phage typing, biotyping and anti-microbial resistance profile of Salmonella enterica sero-type Typhi from Kolkata; Indian J. Med. Res. 125 685–688

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seppala H, Klankka T, Vupio-Varkila J, Muotiala A, Helenins H, Lager K, Huovinen P 1997 Finnish Study Group for Antimicrobial Resistance. The effect of changes in the consumption of macrolide antibiotics on erythromycin resistance in group A Streptococci in Finland; N. Engl. J. Med. 337 441–446

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma N C, Mandal P K, Dhillon R and Jain M 2007 Changing profile of Vibrio cholerae 01, 0139 in Delhi and periphery (2003–2005); Indian J. Med. Res. 125 633–640

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shukla I, Tiwari R and Agarwal M 2004 Prevalence of Extended Spectrum ß lactamase producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in a tertiary care hospital; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 22 87–91

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Singhal R, Dhawan S, Mohanty S, Sood S, Dhawan B, Das B and Kapil A 2006 species distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility of coagulase negatice staphylococci in a tertiary care hospital; Indian J. Med. Res. 123 569–570

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Singhal S, Purnapatre K P, Kalia V et al 2007. Ciproploxacinresistant Neisseria meningitides, Delhi, India; Emerg. Infect. Dis. 13 1614–1616

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha M and Srinivasa H 2007 Mechanisms of Resistance to Carbapenems in Meropenem resistant Acinetobacter isolates from clinical samples; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 25 121–125

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart W H 1967 A mandate for state action. in Proceeding of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officer (http://pages.pomona.edu/~nvh04747/Bio189L/intro.html)

  • Streulens M.J 2003 The problem of resistance; in Antibiotic and chemotherapy Chapter 3, 8th edition (eds) R G Finch, D Greenwood, S R Norrby, and R J Whitley (Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone) pp 25–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Ultley A H C, Collins C H, Naidoo J and George R C 1988 Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci; Lancet 1 57–58

    Google Scholar 

  • U S Food and Drug Administration, Centre for DrugEvaluation and Research 2007 New molecular ntities (NMEs) ( http://www.fda.gov.cder/rdmt)

  • Venugopal D, Kumar S, Isa M and Bose M 2007 Drug Registance profile of Human Mycobacterium avium complex strains from India; Indian J. Med. Microbiol. 23 115–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Wattal C 2008 Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Microbiology Newsletters May 2000 to Oct 2005 (URL http://www.sgrh.com/nletter/n1.htm) 4th June 2006) also accessed on 24th May 2008.

  • Whitney C G and Klugman K P 2004. Vaccines as tools against resistance: the example of phenomococcal conjugate vaccine period; Semin. Pediactr. Infect. Dis. 15 86–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson G, Easow J M, Mukhopadhyay C and Shivananda P G 2006 Isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility of Shigella from patients with acute gastroenteritis in Western Nepal; Indian J. Med. Res. 123 145–150

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wise R, Hart T, Cars O, Struelens M, Helmith R, Hnovinen P and Sprenger M 1998 Resistance is a major threat to public health; Br. Med. J. 317 609–610

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wise R 2008 The world-wide threat of Resistance? (Keynote address); in Proccedings of the 9th Sir Dorabji Tata Symposium 10–11, March 2008 (in press)

  • World Health Organization 2002 Fact Sheet No. 194 Antimicrobial Resistance; available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/FS194/en/print.html. Accessed on 6th May 2008

  • World Health Report 2003 Shaping the future (Geneva, World Health Organization) (URL:http//www.who.int/war/2003/eu)

  • World Health Report 2007 A safer future (Geneva: World Health Organization) (URL: http://www.who.int/whr/2003/en)

    Google Scholar 

  • Yavankar S P, Pardesi K R and Chopade B A 2007 Species distribution and Physiological characterization of Acinetobacter Genospecies from Healthy Human Skin of Tribal population in India; Iindian J. Med. Microbiol. 25 336–345

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sir Dorabji Tata Centre for Research in Tropical Diseases, Innovation Centre, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore, 560 012, India

    D. Raghunath

Authors
  1. D. Raghunath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Raghunath.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Raghunath, D. Emerging antibiotic resistance in bacteria with special reference to India. J Biosci 33, 593–603 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-008-0077-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-008-0077-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation