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Ann. Méd. Vét., 2013, 157 (1), pp 15-26 Fluoroquinolones resistances: the current situationMUYLAERT A., MAINIL J.G.Abstract :
After six decades of antimicrobial
use, pathogenic bacteria of human
and animal origin have reached
alarming levels of antibiotics resistances.
Fluoroquinolones, antibiotics
whose use of last resort both
in human and veterinary medicine
should be preferred, have also not
been spared by this phenomenon.
Two chromosomal mechanisms
are responsible for clinical
fluoroquinolones resistances: the
accumulation of mutations within
genes either encoding the DNA
gyrase and/or the topoisomerase
IV, or regulating the expression of
efflux pumps and decreasing the
membrane permeability. Recently,
strains with sub-clinical levels of
fluoroquinolones resistance mediated
by plasmid-located genes,
the so-called PMQR genes for
"plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance",
have emerged.
These mechanisms do not only
confer sub-clinical levels, but they
also increase the likelihood of clinically
resistant strains emergence
in the presence of therapeutic levels
of fluoroquinolone.
This literature review will present a
description and the epidemiology
of plasmidic and chromosomal
fluoroquinolone resistances and
will consider the epidemiology of
these phenomena. Get the PDF Contact person : amuylaert@ulg.ac.be |
