From Medscape Infectious Diseases
Emerging Antibiotics: Will We Have What We Need?
" * More US patients die of MRSA infections than HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis combined.
* Only 2 new antibiotics -- doripenem and telavancin -- have been approved in the past 3 years.
* We have no drugs to treat infections with some strains of multi-drug-resistant gram-negative bacilli, like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii.
We may finally have arrived at the era of the untreatable bacterial infection."
The ESKAPE ( they effectively escape the effects of antibacterial drugs)
| E | Enterococcus faecium | Third most common cause of HCA BSI. Increasing resistance to vancomycin. |
| S | Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) | Emerging resistance to current drugs and significant drug toxicities. Lack of oral agents for step-down therapy |
| K | Klebsiella Escherichia coli K pneumoniae | ESBL-producing organisms increasing in frequency and severity; associated with increasing mortality. K pneumoniae carbapenemases causing severe infections in LTCF. Few active agents; nothing in development |
| A | Acinetobacter baumannii | Increasing worldwide, recent surge reported in hospitals. Very high mortality. Carbapenem-resistant. |
| P | Pseudomonas aeruginosa | Increasing P. aeruginosa infections in US and worldwide. Resistant to carbapenems, quinolones, aminoglycosides |
| E | Enterobacter species | MDR HCA infections increasing; resistance via ESBLs, carbapenemases, and cephalosporinases |
HCA = healthcare associated; BSI = bloodstream infection; MRSA = methicillin resistant S aureus; ESBL = extended-spectrum beta-lactamase; LTCF = long-term care facility; MDR = multiple drug-resistant