Cross-Resistance between Antiseptic Agents and Antimicrobial Agents

Commonly, antiseptic agents are used as preventive agents while antimicrobial agents are used for therapeutic purposes. Cross-resistance of antiseptic agents and antimicrobial agents is not thoroughly studied. Theoretically, it is possible since antiseptic agents sometimes act at the same receptors or pathways as the antimicrobial agents to curtail the infections. Due to this, exposure to antiseptic agents can trigger mutations in the receptors or the pathways which can result in the development of antimicrobial resistance. The term “cross-resistance” in the field of antimicrobial resistance is poorly defined. Many authors use the term “crossresistance” to indicate the development of resistance to different classes of antimicrobials such as β-lactams, aminoglycosides, polymyxins etc. [3-5]. It is often used in the same context as multidrug resistance. For this paper, cross-resistance specifically refers to the development of resistance to both antiseptic agents and antimicrobial agents. Very few studies are available on the crossresistance between antiseptic agents and antimicrobial agents. Wand et al found that invitro exposure of Klebsiella pneumoniae cultures to chlorhexidine resulted in the development of colistin resistance [6]. They detected specific mutations in the PhoP/Q following the exposure to chlorhexidine that resulted in the development of resistance to both chlorhexidine and colistin.