Meningitidis
Antibiotic Resistance in Neisseria
Category: Antibiotic Resistance
from William M. Shafer, Jason P. Folster and Robert A. Nicholas in Neisseria: Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis
Diseases caused by the pathogenic Neisseria (N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis) have been successfully treated with antibiotics for the past 70 years. However, a disturbing trend worldwide is the increasing prevalence of strains with resistance to inexpensive and widely available antibiotics (e.g., penicillin, tetracycline and ciprofloxacin) and the emergence of strains exhibiting decreased susceptibility to effective antibiotics that are expensive and not always available (e.g. third-generation cephalosporins and the newer macrolides).
A recent publication reports that the global problem of antibiotic resistance will continue (and worsen) in the foreseeable future. By understanding the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in gonococci and meningococci, resistance to antibiotics currently in clinical practice can be anticipated and the design of novel antimicrobials to circumvent this problem can be undertaken more rationally. The authors review the genetic and physiologic basis by which the pathogenic Neisseria developed resistance to historically important antibiotics and how resistance to newer antibiotics is emerging.
Neisseria: Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis
Diseases caused by the pathogenic Neisseria (N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis) have been successfully treated with antibiotics for the past 70 years. However, a disturbing trend worldwide is the increasing prevalence of strains with resistance to inexpensive and widely available antibiotics (e.g., penicillin, tetracycline and ciprofloxacin) and the emergence of strains exhibiting decreased susceptibility to effective antibiotics that are expensive and not always available (e.g. third-generation cephalosporins and the newer macrolides).
A recent publication reports that the global problem of antibiotic resistance will continue (and worsen) in the foreseeable future. By understanding the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in gonococci and meningococci, resistance to antibiotics currently in clinical practice can be anticipated and the design of novel antimicrobials to circumvent this problem can be undertaken more rationally. The authors review the genetic and physiologic basis by which the pathogenic Neisseria developed resistance to historically important antibiotics and how resistance to newer antibiotics is emerging.
Neisseria: Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis