Nanoparticles: Powerful Tool to Mitigate Antibiotic Resistance

The discovery of antibiotics has offered tremendous advantage for progress in medicine. It has ensured recuperation from deadly bacterial diseases and an increase in the longevity of human life. Bacteria, due to their versatile and quick adaptation towards a changing environment, inevitably emerged as winners in the struggle for survival. The bacteria have acquired resistance by means of genetic modifications, shared the resistance genes through horizontal gene transfer and evolved strategies to overcome lethal antimicrobials. This resulted in the emergence of resistance towards multiple antimicrobial agents. Concurrent with the emergence of resistance, better connectivity across the globe led to a rapid spread and dispersion of the resistance traits. Cumulatively, all the above, resulted in antimicrobial resistance emerging as the most significant human health crisis of the twenty-first century. Deaths attributed to antibiotic resistant infections have raised significantly worldwide, particularly in high and low-income nations. This crisis threatens to undo medical advances such as organ transplants and interventional surgery healing. Ongoing surveillance conducted by the World Health Organization on the occurrence of antibiotic resistant infections worldwide suggested approximately ten million deaths to occur by 2050. Such predicted death rates surpass those associated with other deadly diseases like cancer and diabetes. Several studies have highlighted the mechanisms behind such growing drug resistance, which unanimously urges us to look for alternatives to antibiotic and take action to tackle antibiotic resistant pathogens. The complexity of the problem is compounded with the bottlenecks in drug development and a lack of available new antimicrobials. Such a scenario has necessitated a search for alternatives to naturally occurring antimicrobials.