The pharmacokinetics (PK) of antimicrobial agents administered to critically ill patients exhibit marked variability. This variability results from pathophysiological changes that occur in critically ill patients. Changes in volume of distribution, clearance, and tissue penetration all affect the drug concentrations at the site of infection. PK-pharmacodynamic indices (fCmax:MIC; AUC0-24:MIC; f...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threats are typically represented by bacteria capable of extensive horizontal gene transfer (HGT). One clear exception is Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). It is an obligate human pathogen with limited genetic diversity and a low mutation rate which lacks any evidence for HGT. Such features should, in principle, reduce its ability to rapidly evolve AMR. We identif...

The conventional treatment of infectious agents is increasingly encountering antimicrobial resistance. This resistance has led to an intense search for novel treatment modalities for infectious diseases. Elucidation of the mechanisms underlying the inhibitory activity of chemokines has been instrumental in the rational design of anti-human immunodeficiency virus chemokine drugs. The immune-base...

One way that bacteria resist antimicrobial agents involves 'drug sensors', proteins that bind a range of structurally unrelated antimicrobial drugs and induce expression of multidrug resistance pumps. The basis for drug recognition is now becoming clear from the recently determined crystal structure of a drug sensor.

Pharmacodynamics describes the relationship between measures of drug levels in serum and tissue fluids and the antimicrobial and toxicologic effects of drugs (5, 10, 17, 49). While there have been numerous studies describing the pharmacokinetics of fluoroquinolones in serum and tissues, there has been much less emphasis on describing the time course of antimicrobial activity with these drugs. T...

Antimicrobial agents that target bacterial cell wall biosynthesis are among the most successful and effective armamentaria against bacterial infections. However, the worldwide spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria has eroded the clinical efficiency of these drugs and the antimicrobial pipeline continues to be lean. Nevertheless, cell wall biosynthesis of bacteria remains a high interest a...

Infectious diseases form the major health-care burden for the developing world and antimicrobials prove to be the magical drugs to combat this. The discovery of antimicrobial agents was boon for the global health-care system and the wonderful cure by antimicrobials shifted the disease trends from infectious to life-style diseases in the developed world. Sudden appearance of the antimicrobial re...

BACKGROUND Drugs administered as intravenous infusion may be contaminated during several stages of production or preparation. However studies focusing on antibacterial effects of vasopressor drugs are very rare. This study investigates the in vitro antimicrobial activity of the clinically used forms of vasopressors. MATERIALS AND METHODS In vitro antimicrobial activities of vasopressor drugs ...

The in vitro susceptibilities of 76 isolates of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae collected from pigs with pleuropneumonia were tested with 12 commonly used antimicrobial drugs by an agar dilution minimal inhibitory concentration procedure according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) guidelines. Field isolates had low MICs for ceftiofur, danofloxacin and penicillin. N...

A cholera outbreak in Terengganu, Malaysia, in November 2009 was caused by 2 El Tor Vibrio cholerae variants resistant to typical antimicrobial drugs. Evidence of replacement of treatable V. cholerae infection in the region with antimicrobial-resistant strains calls for increased surveillance and prevention measures.