Abstrakt

Antibiotic resistance: what have we learned and where do we go from here?

Joseph Blondeau

Antibiotic resistance has been accepted as a potential threat to the future of antibiotic therapy ever since the discovery of the first penicillin-resistant strain of Stapyhlococcus aureus in 1947. Now, almost 60 years later, we are facing a possible global pandemic as bacteria continue to evolve into multiple drug-resistant species and the healthcare industry struggles (and fails) to keep up. As it becomes increasingly apparent that industry is no match for nature, so too has it become more obvious, that in order to prevent a return to the pre-antibiotic era, we must adapt our focus and research in order to better understand the mechanisms bacteria use to outwit and evade antibiotic agents. Dr Joseph Blondeau of the University of Saskatchewan (SA, Canada) has been working in the field of antibiotic resistance as a Clinical Microbiologist for almost 15 years and in this issue of Therapy, shares his thoughts on the threat of antibiotic resistance, lessons from the past and his vision for the future of research and antibiotic drug discovery.