Abstract

VANEGAS-MUNERA, Johanna Marcela  and  JIMENEZ-QUICENO, Judy Natalia. Antimicrobial resistance in the 21st century: towards a post-antibiotic era?. Rev. Fac. Nac. Salud Pública [online]. 2020, vol.38, n.1, e337759. ISSN 0120-386X.  https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.rfnsp.v38n1e337759.

Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928 marked the beginning of an era characterized by the development of different groups of antibiotics that allowed the proper treatment of serious infections caused by bacteria that affected the world population. However, the development of each class of antibiotics almost simultaneously triggered the emergence of resistant bacteria, due in part to the widespread and inappropriate use of these medicines. As a result, managing bacterial infections has become increasingly complicated and currently there are few treatment options, added to the fact that the development of new antimicrobials is no longer attractive to the pharmaceutical industry. This situation has led the World Health Organization to warn of the arrival of a post-antibiotic era, where common or previously easily treated infections could cause deaths as a result of bacterial resistance to several groups of antibiotics. Therefore, questions arise about how this situation could have come to be and what solutions are needed to avoid the dreaded post-antibiotic era, questions that we attempt to answer in this paper by addressing aspects related not only to microorganisms, but also to social, economic and even political contexts, which influence the increase of antimicrobial resistance and hinder its control.

Keywords : Post-antibiotic era; antibiotics; antibiotic resistance; epidemiology.

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