Biochemical Mechanisms of Resistance to Non-cell Wall Antibacterial Agents

Abstract

This chapter describes the biochemical mechanisms that provide the basis for resistance to antibiotics and other antibacterial agents. Few comments regarding the genetic basis of resistance are also included. Antibacterial agents have been introduced to treat most if not all bacterial infections in man, yet the record shows that emergence of resistance has invariably followed the clinical introduction of each one. Today, the problem of antibiotic resistance is more acute than at any other time in the antibiotic era. In spite of the wealth of antibacterial agents available to clinicians, the frequency at which antibiotic resistance develops is increasing. There is also the particularly problematic emergence of multiple drug resistance in many different bacteria, and the pronouncements from some quarters that fewer new drugs are being developed as antibacterials. Genetic determinants for resistance are intrinsic or are acquired as new information. Intrinsic resistance to antibiotics is determined by genetic and biochemical factors peculiar to a specific group of bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is understood to be acquired when a bacterial population, normally sensitive to an antibacterial agent, becomes resistant to that agent by virtue of obtaining new genetic information. © 1995, Elsevier Science BV.