Spices as Eco-friendly Microbicides: From Kitchen to Clinic
Mahendra Rai, Chistiane M. Feitosa in Eco-Friendly Biobased Products Used in Microbial Diseases, 2022
Plants produce a large number of secondary metabolites that shows inhibitory effects on pathogenic microbes. Some of these are used as drugs, flavors, fragrances, insecticides and dyes, and thus have a great economic value. Major groups of plant secondary metabolites comprise terpenes, phenolic compounds, flavonoids and alkaloids. Antimicrobial agents used for fighting infectious diseases are currently becoming ineffective and its misuse and overuse leads to the development of antimicrobial resistance. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis alone is responsible for 230,000 deaths per annum globally. Presently problems of antimicrobial resistance are becoming more complex and serious. Plant derived antimicrobials particularly plant secondary metabolites either in purified form or plant part preparation as crude extract appears to be a promising tool to combat pathogenic microbes.
Drug Allergy
Pudupakkam K Vedanthan, Harold S Nelson, Shripad N Agashe, PA Mahesh, Rohit Katial in Textbook of Allergy for the Clinician, 2021
Patch testing involves applying a drug directly to the skin surface for 24–72 hours to allow penetration through the epidermis and activation of the immune system. It is highly effective for the diagnosis of type IV hypersensitivity contact dermatitis to numerous topical drugs. Common examples include the antimicrobials neomycin and bacitracin. Patch testing is not validated for the diagnosis of cutaneous drug reactions to systemically administered drugs. There is limited evidence that it may be useful with specific medications such as some beta-lactams, sulfonamide antibiotics and aromatic anticonvulsants. This may be useful in the diagnosis of specific type IV cutaneous reactions including maculopapular exanthams, fixed drug eruptions and AGEP. However, sensitivity and specificity of such testing is generally poor. Notably it is not useful in assessing for the severe cutaneous drug reactions SJS/TEN or DRESS.
Laccase-Mediated Synthesis of Novel Antibiotics and Amino Acid Derivatives
Peter Grunwald in Pharmaceutical Biocatalysis, 2019
The increasing problems of antimicrobial drug resistance require the development of new antimicrobial agents. The laccase-mediated reaction of various compounds is a promising method to enlarge the range of currently available antibiotics, amino acid derivatives and biomaterials. This method permits the use of mild reaction conditions: room temperature, neutral-pH-values, normal pressure, and aqueous solvent systems. Reactions can be driven to the formation of homo- or heteromolecular products by the selection of suitable laccases, laccase substrates, reaction partners and conditions and variation of these parameters shifts the product pattern from no products to dimers, trimers, higher oligomers or to polymers. Additionally, hundreds of nonlaccase substrate reaction partners, all with very different structures can be used for coupling reactions, derivatizations or polymerizations in heteromolecular laccase-mediated syntheses forming various C–N, C–O, C–S or C–C bonds. For the future, we envisage that an impressive number of combinations of laccase substrates and reaction partners can be tested in combinatorial syntheses in the field of antibiotics and amino acid derivatives as well as in general for the synthesis of new chemicals.
Pullulan based derivatives: synthesis, enhanced physicochemical properties, and applications
Published in Drug Delivery, 2022
Surendra Agrawal, Divya Budhwani, Pravina Gurjar, Darshan Telange, Vijay Lambole
Antimicrobials are the agent that prevents or stop the growth of micro-organism. Pullulan derivatives also can show antimicrobial action. CMP was prepared mainly using a crosslinking reaction with different diamines and dihydrazide. However, when pullulan is coprocessed with carboxymethyl chitosan, the resultant carboxymethyl chitosan pullulan film shows antimicrobial action (Li et al., 2011). This is because carboxymethyl chitosan has anti-microbial properties, which get adopted by pullulan during the reaction (Wu et al., 2013). A sponge was prepared using carboxymethyl chitosan for wound healing and dermal reconstruction, which showed great success in the form of sponge due to its high porosity, appropriate water vapor transmission rate, and swelling ability (Wang et al., 2017).
The war against bacteria, from the past to present and beyond
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2022
Lucrezia Bottalico, Ioannis Alexandros Charitos, Maria Assunta Potenza, Monica Montagnani, Luigi Santacroce
The wider definition of antimicrobial agent, on the other hand, is reserved for any chemical substance – natural or synthetic – that can inhibit the growth of both bacteria and other microorganisms [4,6]. Although the terms antibiotics and antimicrobial agents are sometimes utilized interchangeably in a common language, the difference is relevant and must be underlined: while antibiotics specifically target bacteria, antimicrobials encompass a broader range of products able to act on bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses. Antimicrobial chemotherapy is a strategy to counteract infections intended to selectively destroy or inhibit pathological microbial development, without altering the function or damaging the structure of host cells (selective cell toxicity) (Figure 1). Ideally, the appropriate antimicrobial agent should: a) show selective toxicity (enhanced activity toward target microorganisms, not harmful to humans), b) not induce hypersensitivity reactions in the host, c) not extensively alter the host microbiota’s eubiosis, d) display appropriate pharmacokinetic properties (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) when administered systemically, and g) have affordable costs [7–11].
Antibiotic use in Australian and Swedish primary care: a cross-country comparison
Published in Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 2022
Konny Andersson, Mieke van Driel, Katarina Hedin, Samantha Hollingworth, Gregory Merlo
Antimicrobial resistance has important implications for healthcare systems all over the world in terms of increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare expenditure [1]. Each year in the European Union and the European Economic Area, there are over 670,000 infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria and 33,000 people die from these infections. If antimicrobial resistance follows the projected trends, the annual costs for these infections are estimated to have an economic impact of up to €1.1 billion by 2050 in the European Union [2]. The OECD has estimated that between 2015 and 2050 antimicrobial resistance will lead to a combined economic burden of $75 billion for United States, Canada, and Australia [3]. A 2014 review on antimicrobial resistance estimated that if resistance trends continued there would be a global economic impact in terms of lost productivity of US$100 trillion [4].
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