Strategies to Enhance Antimicrobial Resistance Stewardship Alanazi MQ * Drug Policy and Economic Center, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia * Corresponding author: Prof. Menyfah Q. Alanazi, Drug Policy & Economic Centre, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tel: +966118011111; E-mail: Dr.monifah@gmail.com Received date: December 8, 2017; Accepted date: January 12, 2018; Published date: January 15, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Alanazi MQ et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Antibiotics are widely prescribed therapeutic agents given as management for a range of bacterial infections. The development of antibiotic resistance is one of the most challenging problems in world. It occurs due to over use or inappropriate use of antibiotic. It occurs when the bacteria change in a way that reduces or stops the effectiveness of antibiotics, then the bacteria can survive and continue to grow and strengthen. Antibiotic resistance is accelerated by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, as well as poor infection prevention and control. Steps to reduce the impact and limit the spread of resistance such as education of health care professionals, patient counselling and maker policies. Keywords: Antibiotics; Antimicrobial drugs; Multidrug resistance Introduction In managing and preventing bacterial infections, Antibiotics or Antimicrobial drugs are prescribed by healthcare providers to either exterminate (bactericidal) or inhibit growth of susceptible bacteria, rather than killing them immediately; will eventually lead to bacterial death (bacteriostatic) [1]. It works against infections caused by bacteria which are less common than viral infection. Tus, it is not advised that it be prescribed to treat diseases caused by viral infection, such as common cold, infuenza or fu, coughs and bronchitis, sore throats and acute sinusitis. If antibiotics or antimicrobials are overused and inappropriately, the result may lead to antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics or Antimicrobial drugs were discovered in the 1940’s to treat patients with infectious diseases. It greatly reduced said diseases and death rate was lowered, if not totally evaded. Patients who were hospitalized because of severe bacterial infections were initially injected with a broad-spectrum Antibiotic intravenously for 48 hours. A laboratory test will be done to confrm the infecting bacteria and appropriate Antibiotic drug will be prescribed for treatment of the particular disease [2]. If ever the patient would clinically improve, there would be changes in the drug dosage and drug form, from IV to oral. Nonetheless, it came to a point when the Antibiotic drugs became less efective due to long period of time the patient used it. Te infectious organisms intended to be eradicated by the use of Antibiotic drugs have adapted to patients, making the latter less efective [3]. Categorization of antibiotics (classifcations) Antibiotics or Antimicrobials drugs are classifed in accordance to their mechanism of action, chemical structure and spectrum of activity [1,4]. Categorization is based on chemical structure In chemical structure, Antibiotics drugs generally show the same confguration of antibacterial activity, efectiveness, toxicity and allergic potential. Te main classifcations are as follows: a. Beta-Lactams (Penicillin & ampicillin, Cephalosporin) b. Macrolides c. Fluroquinolones d. Tetracycline and e. Aminoglycoside Each class consists of a range of drugs but each one is still distinctive in its own way. Categorization is based on mechanism of action a. Inhibit cell wall formation: Penicillins and Cephalosporins. b. Inhibit cell Membrane Function: Polymyxins, the cell membrane c. Interfere with DNA formation: Rifamycins, Lipiarmycins, Quinolones and Sulfonamides which have bactericidal activities d. Block protein formation: Macrolides, Aminoglycosides, Lincosamides and Tetracyclines. Categorization is based on spectrum of activity Tere are two types of Antibiotics, to wit: a. Narrow-spectrum Antibiotic: It targets a specifc type of bacteria, i.e. gram- negative or gram-positive, which is efective against specifc families of bacteria. b. Broad-spectrum Antibiotic: It acts against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria. Four (4) new classes of antibacterial compounds have been discovered in the late 2000s and early 2010s which are cyclic lipopeptides (such as daptomycin), glycylcyclines (such as tigecycline), oxazolidinones (such as linezolid), and lipiarmycins (such as fdaxomicin) [5]. J o u r n a l o f A n t i m i c r o b i a l A g e n t s ISSN: 2472-1212 Journal of Antimicrobial Agents Alanazi, J Antimicrob Agents 2018, 4:1 DOI: 10.4172/2472-1212.1000156 Review Article Open Access J Antimicrob Agents, an open access journal ISSN:2472-1212 Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000156