Current Trends and New Perspectives in Antibiotic Therapy

Summary

During the last ten years, limitless numbers of antimicrobials were produced by the pharmaceutical industry and some have been marketed. The main objectives of new drugs are to overcome the expanding problems of resistant bacteria, to fill the gaps of spectrum of previous agents. These objectives are progressively reached by new β-lactams, penems, fluoroquinolones; in general practice, new oral cephalosporins are becoming available. To overcome toxicity problems new concepts in antibiotic usage such as intermittent aminoglycoside regimens are suggested. Research in antibiotics, the discovery of new molecules or the re-evaluation of older drugs constitute dynamic trends in antibiotic therapy.

Key words:

• bacterial resistance
• semi-synthetic molecules
• β-lactams
• penems
• oral cephalosporins
• fluoroquinolones