Title : The role of non-antibiotic drugs on the development of antibiotic resistance
Abstract:
Antibiotics are essential and versatile drugs due to the necessity of their use in cases such as surgical procedures, organ transplantations, and the treatment of cancer patients. However, due to the increasing rates of antibiotic resistance in recent years, there has been a failure in treating infectious diseases. Antibiotic resistance is one of the most serious global public health problems. Many scientific authorities describe antibiotic-resistant infections as a hidden, silent, and quietly progressing pandemic. Worldwide, 750,000 people die each year due to antibiotic-resistant infections. If required precautions are not taken, it is estimated that this number will reach 10 million people per year by 2050. In addition to the inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans and animals for therapeutic purposes, the unnecessary usage, especially in the food and agricultural sectors for economic reasons, is among the most important reasons for the increase in antibiotic resistance. When the increasing rates of resistance are considered, the preventive actions taken on a global scale to tackle the consumption of antibiotics are insufficient to control the problem. Thus, more holistic approaches are required to solve this problem.
Studies conducted in recent years have reported that some non-antibiotic drugs might also have a role to play in promoting antibiotic resistance. Antidepressants are among these drugs. Other than their essential therapeutic effects, the antimicrobial activities of certain antidepressants have also been reported. Studies conducted in the past several years showed that fluoxetine and sertraline have antibiotic-modulating activities as well as antimicrobial activities. It is also indicated that anti-inflammatory and lipid-lowering drugs can accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance. It should be noted that the long-term use of non-antibiotic drugs may affect both the human microbiome and environmental microorganisms due to their accumulation in the environment via their improper disposal and contamination into wastewater, respectively. The response of microorganisms to the chemical changes in their environment has been among the important study topics for a long time. However, data on how the environmental changes causing stress conditions to microorganisms can contribute to antimicrobial resistance have yet to be revealed. Phenotypic and genotypic analyses to elucidate resistance mechanisms with non-antibiotic drug groups, which are used in long term for treatments, are needed to obtain more data.
Audience Take Away Notes:
- Antibiotic resistance is considered to be the next global pandemic. In the fight against antibiotic resistance, precautions been have always taken to consume antibiotics. However, the possibility that non-antibiotic drug groups, especially with long-term use, may play a role in developing resistance has not been considered. In this presentation, I will talk about the importance of the antibiotic resistance pandemic and the role of non-antibiotic drugs in the development of antibiotic resistance. We are a group studying "the effects of non-antibiotic drugs on the development of antibiotic resistance." I will share some of our published research results in my presentation.
