Alternative strategies for antimicrobial therapy
1 Introduction Most of us have no notion of what life would be like without antibiotics. Penicillin was discovered in 1928 and after a lengthy developmental period became available for…
Clinical uses of antimicrobial drugs
1 Introduction The worldwide use of antimicrobial drugs continues to rise; in 2005 these agents accounted for an expenditure of approximately £ 26 billion. In the UK, prescribing in general…
Antibiotic prescribing and antibiotic stewardship
1 The need for antimicrobial stewardship In testimony to a US government committee in June 2010, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) stated that Most commonly used antibiotics cost…
Microbial biofilms: consequences for health
1 Introduction Traditionally, microbiologists have grown bacteria as sus-pension cultures in rich media, in order to optimize cell yield. This planktonic mode of growth also became part of the standard…
Introduction to pharmaceutical microbiology
1 Microorganisms and m edicines The opening paragraph of the previous edition of this book published in 2004 stated that ‘despite continuing poverty in many parts of the world and…
Principles of microbial pathogenicity and epidemiology
1 Introduction Microorganisms are ubiquitous, and most of them are free-living and derive their nutrition from inert organic and inorganic materials. The association of humans with such microorganisms is generally…
Public health microbiology: infection prevention and control
1 Introduction The critical and defining element of all infections and infectious diseases is their capacity to spread. The fact that infection can spread from person to person (patient to…
