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Antimicrobial Resistance: A Crisis in the Making

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New Antimicrobials: For the Present and the Future

Part of the book series: Emerging Infectious Diseases of the 21st Century ((EIDC))

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered the silent pandemic that threatens the global public health systems and one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development. The emerging crisis of antimicrobial resistance is largely man-made from overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals. This chapter reviews the current status of antimicrobial resistance globally and the mechanisms by which bacteria resist antibiotics. AMR is a natural evolutionary process which predated the discovery of penicillin and allows survival of the fittest through natural selection. However, the “antibiotic pressure” driving the dynamics of AMR is largely “man-made.” Although AMR is most commonly recognized in enteric bacteria (Enterobacteriaceae) and skin flora (methicillin-resistant S. aureus), it is a threat to the global design to eradicate or control tuberculosis (multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant M. tuberculosis) and malaria (artemisinin-resistant P. falciparum), certain viral infections (cytomegalovirus and human immunodeficiency virus), and specific fungal opportunistic pathogens (Candida nonalbicans and Aspergillus sp.).

It is estimated that 700,000 deaths occur yearly in the world from AMR infections and projected to escalate to ten million by 2050, if drastic global control measures are not instituted. In the United States, multidrug-resistant bacteria infections account for >20% hospitalization annually, and > 80% are community derived. The economic impact of AMR infections are huge and without immediate actions to find solutions and could result in increase in global poverty, shortage of meat, widespread unemployment, and decline in gross national product of numerous countries (greater in low-middle-income nations).

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    I. W. Fong

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Fong, I.W. (2023). Antimicrobial Resistance: A Crisis in the Making. In: New Antimicrobials: For the Present and the Future. Emerging Infectious Diseases of the 21st Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26078-0_1

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