Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health issue and leads to a severe warning to clinicians, public healthcare specialists and health care system. There are a variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, and helminths have acquired antimicrobial resistance. This article aims to bring the recent update on AMR in bacteria, its global prevalence, morbidity and mortality, mechanisms, implications, and its consequences. A detailed study was conducted using Google Scholar, MEDLINE/PubMed, NCBI, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, SCOPUS, Web of Science data bases. All the concerned areas of research on AMR were retrieved. Important bacteria that have emerged as multiple antibiotic resistance are, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Neisseria gonorrhoea (N. gonorrhoea), Enterococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) and Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii). Recently there were many cases of vancomycin resistance S. aureus (VRSA) as well as vancomycin resistance Enterococcus (VRE) were reported from many parts of the world. Due to antibiotic abuse/misuse of antibiotic therapy, several bacteria acquired multiple antibiotic resistance. The diseases produced due to these pathogens are hard to manage or cannot be treated at all. In future the AMR in bacteria poses severe threat to entire humanity due to increased mortality and morbidity. National and international health agencies should take urgent and immediate action to address this issue.

Key words: Antimicrobial resistance, AMR, Antibiotics, Silent pandemic, Bacteria