IITAA
IITAA (Institute for Investigation and Technology of Agronomy and Environment) is very much engaged and has the know how to pursuit studies on insular climate characterization / prediction and effects of global change on communities from the open ocean to the islands tops, modernize agriculture ... Read more »
PUBLICATIONS
O desafio da resistência aos antibióticos
Food Science and Health
Reference
Dapkevicius, M.L.N.E., Vouzela, CF., Gomes da Silva, C., Dapkevicius, A., Riquelme, C., Varela, A.R., Câmara, S., (2010). O desafio da resistência aos antibióticos - pesquisas em curso na Universidade dos Açores. Congresso Internacional das Ciências e Tecnologias da Saúde, Cooperação e Desenvolvimento na Macaronésia, Açores,Terceira.Summary
The problem of resistance to antibiotics by pathogenic bacteria has increased and assumed worrisome proportions, leading some authors to state that we may soon be back to the time when infections could not be cured and were fatal (Alanis, 2005). Many groups of bacteria possess inherent resistance to some antibiotics, but the inadequate use of these drugs has also contributed to the diffusion of resistance genes among bacteria belonging to different taxonomic groups (Guillemot, 1999). Dissemination of resistance genes can occur by horizontal gene transfer from pools of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (both pathogenic and non-pathogenic) established in the environment (Martínez, 2009). It is important to rationalize antibiotic usage in order to minimize the problem of bacterial resistance to these drugs, but it is also necessary to screen for new molecules possessing antimicrobial activity against the resistant pathogens (Butler and Buss, 2006). Antibiotic usage in the food production chain may contribute to the dissemination of resistance. It is important to establish strategies to reduce antibiotic usage to the situations in which it is strictly
necessary, under veterinary control (Faye, 2005). In the last 50 years, the search for new antimicrobial drugs has been carried out mainly by modifying the molecular structure of the existing natural antibiotics, whose antimicrobial activity has been discovered in the mid-20th century. In some cases, the possibilities for coming up with new variations of the existing molecular structures has reached its limit, bringing up the need to search for novel active molecules, completely different from the ones that are presently available, in well-known sources of antibiotics (such as the streptomycetes) or in microorganisms from under-explored environments (Clardy et al., 2006).
Friday, 31 December, 2010
