During the last 3 decades, it has been observed that there is a dramatic increase in microbial infections. For the treatment of these infections, various antimicrobial drugs have been used irrationally which resulted in the development of resistance among several strains of microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, parasites, and viruses).

Multidrug resistance is the insensitivity of microorganisms against the antimicrobial agents. These microorganisms were sensitive to these antimicrobial agents earlier. Administration of antimicrobial agents has no effect on these microorganisms that result in ineffective treatment and widespread of such infections. Multidrug resistance is a natural phenomenon. This phenomenon is more common in immunocompromised patients such as diabetic patients, severe burn bodies, HIV infection.

According to the WHO report, there are increased rates of insensitivity in bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae against the carbapenems and cephalosporin, Escherichia coli against fluoroquinolones and cephalosporin, Mycobacterium tuberculosis against fluoroquinolone, isoniazid, and rifampicin, etc.

Similarly, resistance has been developed in some antifungal drugs that are used to treat various fungal infections such as azole derivatives (fluconazole, voriconazole, ketoconazole, and itraconazole), macrolides, and flucytosine against the Scopulariopsis spp., Aspergillus spp., and Trichosporon beigelii, etc.

Antimicrobial resistance causes several complications, high medical costs and high rates of mortality. Due to the decrease in the efficacy of certain drugs, it causes prolong the duration of infection with high medical treatment costs. It also has become difficult to control the widespread of microorganisms’ infections. Due to resistance against commercially available drugs, patients have to go for other expensive medical therapies.

Due to the rapid increase in MDR, it has become indispensable to develop new antimicrobial drugs and other alternative medical treatments. It is also necessary to conduct awareness programs to educate people about the rational use of antibiotics. Multidrug resistance is not avoidable, causing serious threats to worldwide public health and the economy of underdeveloped countries.

References

1. Singh, “Antimicrobial resistance,” in Microbial Pathogens and Strategies for Combating Them: Science, Technology and Education, vol. 1, pp. 291–296, Formatex Research Center, 2013.
2. Nikaido, “Multidrug resistance in bacteria,” Annual Review of Biochemistry, vol. 78, pp. 119–146, 2009.
3. Loeffler and D. A. Stevens, “Antifungal drug resistance,” Clinical Infectious Diseases, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. S31–S41, 2003.
4. Strasfeld and S. Chou, “Antiviral drug resistance: mechanisms and clinical implications,” Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 413–437, 2010.