2010/08/30 by Julian Davies, Dorothy Davies · 15 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · Immunology and Microbiology · #Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria #Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts #Antibiotic Use and Resistance
paper · doi:10.1128/mmbr.00016-10
openalex publication_date 2010/08/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Antibiotics have always been considered one of the wonder discoveries of the 20th century. This is true, but the real wonder is the rise of antibiotic resistance in hospitals, communities, and the environment concomitant with their use. The extraordinary genetic capacities of microbes have benefitted from man's overuse of antibiotics to exploit every source of resistance genes and every means of horizontal gene transmission to develop multiple mechanisms of resistance for each and every antibiotic introduced into practice clinically, agriculturally, or otherwise. This review presents the salient aspects of antibiotic resistance development over the past half-century, with the oft-restated conclusion that it is time to act. To achieve complete restitution of therapeutic applications of antibiotics, there is a need for more information on the role of environmental microbiomes in the rise of antibiotic resistance. In particular, creative approaches to the discovery of novel antibiotics and their expedited and controlled introduction to therapy are obligatory.