Can antibiotic resistance be mitigated? – Escherichia coli as an example.

Since the development and utilisation of antibiotics, biomedicine has come to rely heavily on these medicines to control infections. Antibiotics are used not only to prevent or treat disease in humans and animals but also to enhance productivity of livestock animals. As an unintended consequence, the combined use of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine and in agriculture has led to emergence of antibiotic resistance (antimicrobial resistance; AMR) to levels of global concern. Approaches to mitigate AMR are urgently required if antibiotics are to retain their crucial role as frontline anti-infective agents. E. coli will be used as a “model” to highlight some key issues relating to AMR and some of our recent activities examining potential adjunct compounds will be summarised.