Overcoming Antimicrobial Resistance: Pitting Topical, Nonantibiotic Agents Against Systemic Antibiotic Overkill

摘要

Antibiotics may rightly be called wonder drugs, but their use over the last 80 years has come at a price. Through evolutionary mechanisms assisted by overuse and misuse, bacteria develop resistance to new antibiotic compounds soon after their introduction. Today, some of the most virulent bacterial pathogens are resistant to all but one or two agents. Our experience with one topical antibiotic, mupirocin, demonstrates that resistance can emerge even against agents that are not administered systemically.