Recent advances in the potential interconnection between antimicrobial resistance to biocides and antibiotics

Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2013 Apr;11(4):363-6. doi: 10.1586/eri.13.16.

Abstract

Interconnection between microbial resistance to biocides and antibiotics is a topic of increasing interest given the recent changes in European legislation and claims of a risk of biocide use on bacterial resistance. In the second International Conference on Antimicrobial Research held in Lisbon in November 2012, a workshop specifically addressed this topic, presentations included approaches to risk assessment and investigations into the molecular mechanisms of biocide resistance and co- and cross-resistance to antibiotics. The overall conclusion was that, even if each biocide represents a specific case, there is scientific evidence that biocides select for biocide resistance, but that there is, so far, no conclusive evidence that this also determined or will determine an increase in antibiotic resistance.

Publication types

  • Congress
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Bacterial Infections / drug therapy
  • Disinfectants / pharmacology*
  • Drug Resistance, Microbial*
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / drug effects
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / physiology*
  • Gram-Positive Bacteria / drug effects
  • Gram-Positive Bacteria / physiology*
  • Humans

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Disinfectants