Through various mechanisms, bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics, making them ineffective to treat infections. The number of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics is increasing; especially when an antibiotic is overused for the wrong bacteria, or when antibiotics are misused.

 

Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to public health because if a bacterial infection is resistant to all available antibiotics, there are limited alternative treatment options, which may mean that the infection is fatal.

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Ideally, new types of antibiotics would be produced, which bacteria are not resistant to, however, this is not happening as there is currently minimal investment or research in this area and new antibiotics are difficult to discover. It is therefore important that the antibiotics currently available are used carefully and responsibly.

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Another response to antimicrobial resistance is the development of new mechanisms of delivering antibiotics. Local antibiotic delivery systems are able to achieve higher concentrations of antibiotics, without the toxicity experienced during systematic administration. Delivery systems, like nanoparticles or microneedles have improved penetration, or biofilm disruption.