In developing countries, where high levels of antimicrobial resistance are observed in hospitals, the surveillance of this phenomenon in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the environment is very limited, especially using... more
In developing countries, where high levels of antimicrobial resistance are observed in hospitals, the surveillance of this phenomenon in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the environment is very limited, especially using cutting-edge culture-independent methods. In this study, the composition of bacterial communities, the resistome and mobilome (the pool of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs), respectively) at a WWTP were determined using shotgun metagenomics and culture-based approaches. Wastewater samples were collected at four sampling points of a WWTP in Antioquia, Colombia. A total of 24 metagenomes were analyzed. Specifically, there were marked differences in bacterial community composition, resistome, and mobilome, according to the WWTP sampling points. Bacterial families of clinical importance such as Moraxellaceae, Aeromonadaceae, and Enterobacteriaceae were mainly detected in the WWTP influent and effluent samples. Genes encoding resistance to macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin, β-lactams, and those conferring multidrug resistance (e.g., acrB, adeG, and mexD) were the most abundant. Moreover, some clinically important ARGs such as blaKPC-2 and blaCTX-M, and others not reported locally, such as blaTEM-196, blaGES-23, blaOXA-10, mcr-3, and mcr-5 were frequently detected. Co-occurrence network analyses indicated a significant association of ARGs such as blaOXA-58 and blaKPC genes with Aeromonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae. Among the markers of MGEs, intI1 and ISCR8 were the most frequently detected. Altogether, this work reveals the importance of shotgun metagenomics and culture-based approaches in antimicrobial resistance studies. The findings also support that WWTPs are hotspots for antimicrobial resistance, whose analysis constitutes a powerful tool to predict the impact of antimicrobial resistance in a population.
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Part of the success of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as a pathogen responds to the rapid spread of pandemic lineages with diverse virulence and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles. In Colombia, several... more
Part of the success of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as a pathogen responds to the rapid spread of pandemic lineages with diverse virulence and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles. In Colombia, several healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) clones have been found, including the pediatric clone (CC5-ST5-SCC mec IV), the Brazilian clone (CC8-ST239-SCC mec III), and the Chilean/Cordobés clone (CC5-ST5-SCC mec I). Moreover, the community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) clone USA300 has been reported as causing hospital-acquired infections. To describe the changes over time in the distribution of MRSA clones from a university hospital in Medellín collected at two time points a decade apart. A total of 398 MRSA strains were analyzed. Of these, 67 strains were collected in 1994, while the remaining 331 strains were collected between 2008 and 2010. Species identification and methicillin resistance were confirmed by detection of nuc and mec A genes, respectively. Molecular cha...
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Research Interests: Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, and 15 moreMultidisciplinary, Humans, Female, Male, Staphylococcus aureus, Infant, PLoS one, Newborn Infant, Genotype, University Hospitals, Virulence Factors, Nose, Cross Sectional Studies, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, and Child preschool
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Research Interests: Microbiology, Colombia, Medical Microbiology, Biology, Adolescent, and 14 moreMedicine, Virulence, Humans, Child, Female, Male, Staphylococcus aureus, Infant, Newborn Infant, University Hospitals, Virulence Factors, Cross Sectional Studies, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, and Child preschool
Five newly discovered endemic foci for paragonimiasis in Colombia are described for the first time. The disease was diagnosed in 24 people from the Embera Indian communities located at the Colombian Pacific Coast and investigated in... more
Five newly discovered endemic foci for paragonimiasis in Colombia are described for the first time. The disease was diagnosed in 24 people from the Embera Indian communities located at the Colombian Pacific Coast and investigated in 1993-98. We also describe the clinical, epidemiological and treatment response aspects. In these foci an Aroapyrgus sp. snail different from A. colombiensis was found to be the first intermediate host, and the crab Hypolobocera emberarum nsp. the second intermediate host.
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ABSTRACT En la última década han sido cada vez más frecuentes los informes de infecciones causadas por cepas de Staphylococcus aureus resistente a meticilina asociadas a la comunidad (CA–MRSA, por Community–associated... more
ABSTRACT En la última década han sido cada vez más frecuentes los informes de infecciones causadas por cepas de Staphylococcus aureus resistente a meticilina asociadas a la comunidad (CA–MRSA, por Community–associated methicillin–resistant S. aureus). La colonización juega un papel importante en la epidemiología de tales infecciones. Sin embargo, los estudios de colonización se han centrado principalmente en el ambiente hospitalario y se han hecho muy pocos en la comunidad. En este trabajo se investigó la frecuencia de colonización por S. aureus en general y por MRSA en las manos de individuos de la población general no relacionados con el área de la salud, empleando métodos fenotípicos y moleculares. Se obtuvieron mediante hisopado 800 muestras de las manos de otros tantos individuos. Se halló colonización por Staphylococcus aureus en 65 muestras (8,1%) y por MRSA en 5 (0,63%). Las 5 cepas de MRSA presentaban el casete cromosómico mec (SCCmec) de los tipos IV o V, típicamente relacionados con CA-MRSA. Nuestro trabajo evidenció la colonización de las manos por MRSA en individuos de la comunidad, lo cual constituye un importante factor de riesgo, no solo por su asociación con el desarrollo ulterior de infecciones, sino también por el potencial de diseminar este microorganismo a la población general.
Research Interests: Colombia, Medical Microbiology, Adolescent, Medicine, Humans, and 15 moreChild, Female, Male, Cluster Analysis, Infant, Aged, Middle Aged, Genotype, Adult, Methicillin Resistance, Genetic variation, Cross Sectional Studies, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Child preschool, and Cross Infection
Research Interests: Colombia, Medical Microbiology, Medicine, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Humans, and 11 moreLivestock, Female, Animals, Staphylococcus aureus, Clinical Sciences, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Public health systems and services research, Microbial Sensitivity Tests, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Multilocus sequence typing, and Methicillin
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Research Interests: Colombia, Biology, Tropical Medicine, Genetic Diversity, Molecular Epidemiology, and 13 moreBiological Sciences, Glutamate, Humans, Animals, Genotype, Plasmodium falciparum, Genetic variation, Merozoite surface protein 1, Molecular Sequence Data, alleles, Gene frequency, Malaria Falciparum, and Medical and Health Sciences
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Objective: To describe the resistance percentage to mupirocin and other antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus isolates colonizing hemodialysis patients. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at an outpatient dialysis center in... more
Objective: To describe the resistance percentage to mupirocin and other antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus isolates colonizing hemodialysis patients. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at an outpatient dialysis center in Medellín and hemodialy-sis patients with catheter were included. Colonization by S. aureus was evaluated in nostrils and skin. Bacterial identification was performed by PCR and an-tibiotic susceptibility was determined by the Vitek-2 automated system and by E-test. Clinical information was obtained from medical records. Results: Two hundred and ten patients were included, of which 50.5% (n=106) were women, with a median for the age of 62 years (IQR 51,87-71,13). Among the cli-nical characteristics, the frequent use of antibiotics 59% (n=124) and the history of hospitalization 69% (n=145) were highlighted. The percentage of colonization by S. aureus was 33.8% (n=71) and the most frequent site of colonization was nostrils (19%; n=40). All isolates were susce...
Currently Acinetobacter baumannii has become in a microorganisms of great clinical importance. It has an extraordinary capacity to spread in the hospital environment and it has been associated with high mortality rates. Acinetobacter... more
Currently Acinetobacter baumannii has become in a microorganisms of great clinical importance. It has an extraordinary capacity to spread in the hospital environment and it has been associated with high mortality rates. Acinetobacter baumannii has acquired different resistance mechanisms to antibiotics with reports resistance to carbapenems, aminoglycosides, quinolones and polymyxins; which has complicated the therapy of the infections caused for this pathogen. The problem is further due to the limitations in the diagnosis and the lack of standardized phenotypic methods to detect specific resistance mechanisms. In Colombia has reported high percentages of resistance to carbapenems, which has reduced therapeutic options. The knowledge of local epidemiology is necessary for establish more assertive control measures.
PALABRAS CLAVE MALARIA PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA MULTIPLICIDAD DE INFECCIÓN INMUNIDAD INTRODUCCIÓN De las cuatro especies de Plasmodium que afectan al hombre, P. falciparum se considera la más virulenta al ocasionar la... more
PALABRAS CLAVE MALARIA PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA MULTIPLICIDAD DE INFECCIÓN INMUNIDAD INTRODUCCIÓN De las cuatro especies de Plasmodium que afectan al hombre, P. falciparum se considera la más virulenta al ocasionar la muerte por ...
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Additional file 1: Supplementary file questionnaire. Questionnaire "Survey on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) related to antibiotics and bacterial resistance". Questionnaire applied to students during the study.
Currently Acinetobacter baumannii has become in a microorganisms of great clinical importance. It has an extraordinary capacity to spread in the hospital environment and it has been associated with high mortality rates. Acinetobacter... more
Currently Acinetobacter baumannii has become in a microorganisms of great clinical importance. It has an extraordinary capacity to spread in the hospital environment and it has been associated with high mortality rates. Acinetobacter baumannii has acquired different resistance mechanisms to antibiotics with reports resistance to carbapenems, aminoglycosides, quinolones and polymyxins; which has complicated the therapy of the infections caused for this pathogen. The problem is further due to the limitations in the diagnosis and the lack of standardized phenotypic methods to detect specific resistance mechanisms. In Colombia has reported high percentages of resistance to carbapenems, which has reduced therapeutic options. The knowledge of local epidemiology is necessary for establish more assertive control measures
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Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for a wide variety of clinical manifestations ranging from skin and soft tissue infections to severe systemic and life threatening diseases; it is of relevance in the community and is commonly... more
Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for a wide variety of clinical manifestations ranging from skin and soft tissue infections to severe systemic and life threatening diseases; it is of relevance in the community and is commonly associated with nosocomial infections. Additionally, a high percentage of the population is colonized by S. aureus, which constitutes a risk factor for its dissemination. S. aureus has great capacity to acquire antimicrobial resistance, and currently there are resistant strains to the majority of available antibiotics; in particular, its resistance to methycillin, initially in the hospital environment (Hospital associated methycillin resistant S. aureus, HA-MRSA) and later in the community (Community acquired methycillin resistant S. aureus, CA-MRSA), has made even more difficult the worldwide control of this microorganism. Molecular epidemiological studies have provided a better understanding of the evolutionary relationships of the strains, and the defini...
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa es una bacteria que ha emergido como un patogeno de gran importancia en el ambiente hospitalario debido a la variedad de cuadros clinicos que ocasiona y su habilidad para desarrollar resistencia a diferentes grupos... more
Pseudomonas aeruginosa es una bacteria que ha emergido como un patogeno de gran importancia en el ambiente hospitalario debido a la variedad de cuadros clinicos que ocasiona y su habilidad para desarrollar resistencia a diferentes grupos de antibioticos. Los avances en la biologia molecular han permitido el conocimiento del genoma de esta bacteria y dilucidar los componentes que contribuyen a su patogenicidad, resistencia y persistencia en el hospedero humano.
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1 Estudiante Microbiología y Bioanálisis, Escuela de Microbiología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín Colombia. 2 Microbióloga MSc. PhD (c), Profesora Escuela de Microbiología, Grupo de Investigación en Microbiología Básica y Aplicada... more
1 Estudiante Microbiología y Bioanálisis, Escuela de Microbiología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín Colombia. 2 Microbióloga MSc. PhD (c), Profesora Escuela de Microbiología, Grupo de Investigación en Microbiología Básica y Aplicada MICROBA, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín Colombia. 3 Médico Infectólogo, Clínica Cardio VID, Profesor Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Grupo de Investigación en Microbiología Básica y Aplicada -MICROBA, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín Colombia. 4 Bacterióloga, MSc, PhD, Profesora Titular Escuela de Microbiología, Grupo de Investigación en Microbiología Básica y Aplicada MICROBA, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín Colombia.
Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928 marked the beginning of an era characterized by the development of different groups of antibiotics that allowed the proper treatment of serious infections caused by bacteria that... more
Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928 marked the beginning of an era characterized by the development of different groups of antibiotics that allowed the proper treatment of serious infections caused by bacteria that affected the world population. However, the development of each class of antibiotics almost simultaneously triggered the emergence of resistant bacteria, due in part to the widespread and inappropriate use of these medicines. As a result, managing bacterial infections has become increasingly complicated and currently there are few treatment options, added to the fact that the development of new antimicrobials is no longer attractive to the pharmaceutical industry. This situation has led the World Health Organization to warn of the arrival of a post-antibiotic era, where common or previously easily treated infections could cause deaths as a result of bacterial resistance to several groups of antibiotics. Therefore, questions arise about how this situation c...
Las colecciones microbianas son depositos ex situ de microorganismos que presentan caracteristicas nuevas o de importancia potencial para la salud o la industria, en ellas se asegura su preservacion, mantenimiento y disponibilidad. La... more
Las colecciones microbianas son depositos ex situ de microorganismos que presentan caracteristicas nuevas o de importancia potencial para la salud o la industria, en ellas se asegura su preservacion, mantenimiento y disponibilidad. La creciente demanda de las colecciones microbianas, la complejidad de sus tareas y la importancia de la calidad en su servicio, exige el conocimiento de los lineamientos exigidos. En esta revision se aborda la importancia de las colecciones microbianas, los procesos requeridos para su establecimiento y las principales organizaciones que las regulan.
Staphylococcus aureus tiene gran capacidad para colonizar la piel y las mucosas de los seres humanos y de diferentes animales. Varios estudios evidencian el papel de dicha colonizacion en la patogenesis y la epidemiologia de las... more
Staphylococcus aureus tiene gran capacidad para colonizar la piel y las mucosas de los seres humanos y de diferentes animales. Varios estudios evidencian el papel de dicha colonizacion en la patogenesis y la epidemiologia de las infecciones causadas por S. aureus. Se ha demostrado que los portadores nasales constituyen una fuente importante de propagacion de la bacteria; una amplia proporcion de las infecciones estafilococicas invasivas asociadas al cuidado de la salud son de origen endogeno, y la colonizacion por cepas de S. aureus resistentes a meticilina (SARM), aun mal entendida, origina mayores complicaciones. La importancia de la colonizacion se ha definido con mas profundidad en ambientes hospitalarios, pero recientemente se han hecho estudios en la comunidad con resultados contradictorios sobre la relacion colonizacion-infeccion. En esta revision se presentan algunas caracteristicas relevantes del proceso de colonizacion por S. aureus, incluyendo las cepas de SARM, y se cons...
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Background This study was designed to describe the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding antibiotic use and resistance among medical students in Medellín, Colombia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical... more
Background This study was designed to describe the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding antibiotic use and resistance among medical students in Medellín, Colombia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students from three universities from September to December 2018. The sample size was calculated, the classrooms were visited, and those students who were willing to participate were invited to do so. The data collection instrument was constructed in three stages: i) the literature was systematically reviewed, ii) the items from the studies identified were extracted, and iii) item reduction was performed with exploratory factor analysis. Data were analyzed by calculating absolute and relative frequencies and means for quantitative variables. The indexes of knowledge, attitude, and practice were transformed to a scale from 0 (worst possible score) to 100. Comparisons were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskall-Wallis H test, and linear regression...
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In developing countries, where high levels of antimicrobial resistance are observed in hospitals, the surveillance of this phenomenon in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the environment is very limited, especially using... more
In developing countries, where high levels of antimicrobial resistance are observed in hospitals, the surveillance of this phenomenon in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the environment is very limited, especially using cutting-edge culture-independent methods. In this study, the composition of bacterial communities, the resistome and mobilome (the pool of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs), respectively) at a WWTP were determined using shotgun metagenomics and culture-based approaches. Wastewater samples were collected at four sampling points of a WWTP in Antioquia, Colombia. A total of 24 metagenomes were analyzed. Specifically, there were marked differences in bacterial community composition, resistome, and mobilome, according to the WWTP sampling points. Bacterial families of clinical importance such as Moraxellaceae, Aeromonadaceae, and Enterobacteriaceae were mainly detected in the WWTP influent and effluent samples. Genes encoding res...
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Background The objective of the present study was to describe the knowledge regarding the antibiotic therapy of students of three medical schools in Medellín, Colombia. Methods The study population comprised medical students who were... more
Background The objective of the present study was to describe the knowledge regarding the antibiotic therapy of students of three medical schools in Medellín, Colombia. Methods The study population comprised medical students who were enrolled in three universities. The instrument contained questions regarding their current academic term, the university, the perceived quality of the education received on antibiotic therapy and bacterial resistance, and specific questions on upper respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and skin and soft tissue infections. The information was analyzed by calculating frequencies and measures of dispersion and central tendency. Knowledge regarding the treatment for each type of infection was compared using the Mann–Whitney U test and the Kruskal–Wallis H test. Results We included 536 medical students, of which 43.5% students consider that the university has not sufficiently trained them to interpret antibiograms and 29.6% stud...
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Introducción. Las infecciones del tracto urinario son muy frecuentes en el ámbito hospitalario. Debido a la aparición de la resistencia antimicrobiana, la complejidad de los procesos de atención ha aumentado y, con ello, la demanda de... more
Introducción. Las infecciones del tracto urinario son muy frecuentes en el ámbito hospitalario. Debido a la aparición de la resistencia antimicrobiana, la complejidad de los procesos de atención ha aumentado y, con ello, la demanda de recursos.Objetivo. Describir y comparar el exceso de los costos médicos directos de las infecciones del tracto urinario por Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae y Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistentes a betalactámicos.Materiales y métodos. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de cohorte en una institución de tercer nivel de Medellín, Colombia, entre octubre del 2014 y septiembre del 2015. Se incluyeron los pacientes con infección urinaria, unos por bacterias sensibles a los antibióticos betalactámicos, y otros por bacterias resistentes a las cefalosporinas de tercera y cuarta generación y a los antibióticos carbapenémicos. Los costos se analizaron desde la perspectiva del sistema de salud. La información clínico-epidemiológica se obtuvo de las historias clín...
Background The objective of this study was to describe the knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy of students of three medical schools of Medellín, Colombia. Methods The study population was made up of medical students enrolled in three... more
Background The objective of this study was to describe the knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy of students of three medical schools of Medellín, Colombia. Methods The study population was made up of medical students enrolled in three universities. The instrument contained questions about their current academic term, the university the perceived quality of the education received on antibiotic therapy and bacterial resistance and specific questions on upper respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and skin and soft tissue infections. The information was analysed by calculating frequencies and measures of dispersion and central tendency. Knowledge about the treatment of each type of infection was compared with the Mann–Whitney U test and the Kruskal–Wallis H test. Results We included 536 medical students, 43.5% consider that the university did not train them enough to interpret antibiograms, 29.6% consider that the quality of information received on the subj...
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The financial burden of antibiotic resistance is a serious concern worldwide. The aim of this study is to describe the excess costs associated with pneumonia, bacteremia, surgical site infections and intra-abdominal infections caused by... more
The financial burden of antibiotic resistance is a serious concern worldwide. The aim of this study is to describe the excess costs associated with pneumonia, bacteremia, surgical site infections and intra-abdominal infections caused by carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacilli in Medellín, Colombia, an endemic region for carbapenem resistance. A cohort study was conducted in a third level hospital from 2014 to 2015. All patients with carbapenem-resistant and carbapenem-susceptible gram-negative bacteria infections were included. Pharmaceutical, medical and surgical direct costs were described from the health system perspective. The excess costs were estimated from generalized linear models using a gamma distribution and adjusted for variables that could affect the cost difference. A total of 218 patients were enrolled, 22% of whom were infected with carbapenem-resistant bacteria. Intra-abdominal infections were the most frequent. The adjusted total excess costs was USD $3,966 (95%...
Research Interests: Colombia, Medical Microbiology, Medicine, Humans, Female, and 15 moreMale, Length of Stay, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aged, Middle Aged, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Antimicrobial agents, Carbapenems, Bacteremia, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Health Care Costs, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae, Surgical wound infection, and Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences
Objetivo: la colistina se ha constituido en un medicamento de uso común en países endémicos en resistencia a carbapenémicos; sin embargo, con su uso ha emergido el reporte de resistencia. El objetivo de este estudio es describir los... more
Objetivo: la colistina se ha constituido en un medicamento de uso común en países endémicos en resistencia a carbapenémicos; sin embargo, con su uso ha emergido el reporte de resistencia. El objetivo de este estudio es describir los brotes hospitalarios por bacterias resistentes a colistinaMaterial y método: revisión sistemática de la literatura en cinco bases de datos siguiendo los criterios de la guía PRISMA de identificación, tamización, elección e inclusión.Resultados: Se identificaron 13 brotes en 7 países diferentes, 77% (n = 10) en Italia y Grecia, y 61,5% (n=8) en cepas de K. pneumoniae. Los pacientes presentaron condiciones de base, con múltiples comorbilidades y exposición afrecuente a los servicios de salud. Las pruebas y los criterios de susceptibilidad fueron variables, los mecanismos de resistencia que se encuentran simultáneamente con resistencia a colistina incluyen carbapenemasas y betalactamasas de espectro extendido. El genotipo predominante de acuerdo a MLST fue ...
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Colonization plays a major role in the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus infections. The child population is one of the most susceptible to colonization; however, community and children studies are limited in... more
Colonization plays a major role in the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus infections. The child population is one of the most susceptible to colonization; however, community and children studies are limited in Colombia. To assess the clonal relationship of S.aureus strains isolated from colonized children in eight day care centers (DCCs) from Medellin and to determine the presence of epidemiological characteristics in these populations. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 200 children aged from 6months to 5years attending eight DCCs in Medellin, Colombia, during 2011. Nasal samples were collected from each nostril. The isolates species and methicillin resistance were molecularly confirmed using nuc and mec genes. Genotypic analysis included SCCmec typing, spa typing, PFGE and MLST. Epidemiological information was obtained from the parents and analyzed using the statistics program SPSS 21.0 RESULTS: The colonization frequency in DCCs ranged from 16.7% (n=3) to 53.6% (n=15). Genetically related isolates were identified inside four DCCs. Half (50%) of the isolates were grouped in 3 clusters, which belonged to the clonal complexes CC45, CC30, and CC121. Molecular typing of isolates from colonized children and comparison among DCCs showed the spread of colonizing strains inside DCCs in Medellin; predominantly the CC45 clone, a successful child colonizer.
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Desde el descubrimiento de la penicilina por Alexander Fleming en 1928, inició una era caracterizada por el desarrollo de diferentes grupos de antibióticos que permitieron el tratamiento adecuado de infecciones graves ocasionadas por... more
Desde el descubrimiento de la penicilina por Alexander Fleming en 1928, inició una era caracterizada por el desarrollo de diferentes grupos de antibióticos que permitieron el tratamiento adecuado de infecciones graves ocasionadas por
bacterias que afectaban la población mundial. Sin embargo, de manera casi simultánea al desarrollo de cada clase de
antibióticos, se desencadenó la emergencia de bacterias resistentes, debido en parte al uso extendido e inadecuado de
estos medicamentos. Como consecuencia, el manejo de las infecciones bacterianas se ha complicado cada vez más y en
la actualidad las opciones de tratamiento son pocas, sumado a que el desarrollo de nuevos antimicrobianos ha dejado de
ser atractivo para la industria farmacéutica. Esta situación ha conducido a que la Organización Mundial de la Salud advierta sobre la llegada de una era postantibiótica, donde infecciones comunes o anteriormente de fácil tratamiento pueden ocasionar muertes como resultado de la resistencia bacteriana a los diferentes grupos de antibióticos. Por lo
anterior, surgen preguntas sobre cómo pudo ser originada esta situación y qué soluciones son necesarias para evitar la temida era, preguntas que tratan de ser respondidas en el presente ensayo, mediante el abordaje de aspectos relacionados no solo con los microorganismos, sino también con contextos sociales, económicos e incluso políticos, que influyen en el aumento de la resistencia antimicrobiana y dificultan su control.
bacterias que afectaban la población mundial. Sin embargo, de manera casi simultánea al desarrollo de cada clase de
antibióticos, se desencadenó la emergencia de bacterias resistentes, debido en parte al uso extendido e inadecuado de
estos medicamentos. Como consecuencia, el manejo de las infecciones bacterianas se ha complicado cada vez más y en
la actualidad las opciones de tratamiento son pocas, sumado a que el desarrollo de nuevos antimicrobianos ha dejado de
ser atractivo para la industria farmacéutica. Esta situación ha conducido a que la Organización Mundial de la Salud advierta sobre la llegada de una era postantibiótica, donde infecciones comunes o anteriormente de fácil tratamiento pueden ocasionar muertes como resultado de la resistencia bacteriana a los diferentes grupos de antibióticos. Por lo
anterior, surgen preguntas sobre cómo pudo ser originada esta situación y qué soluciones son necesarias para evitar la temida era, preguntas que tratan de ser respondidas en el presente ensayo, mediante el abordaje de aspectos relacionados no solo con los microorganismos, sino también con contextos sociales, económicos e incluso políticos, que influyen en el aumento de la resistencia antimicrobiana y dificultan su control.