TY - JOUR AU - Gupta, Pratima AU - Deka, Sangeeta PY - 2018/12/31 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The Menace of Antimicrobial Resistance JF - Indian Journal of Community Health JA - Indian J Community Health VL - 30 IS - 4 SE - Continued Medical Education DO - 10.47203/IJCH.2018.v30i04.003 UR - https://www.iapsmupuk.org/journal/index.php/IJCH/article/view/1013 SP - 317 - 322 AB - <p>The discovery of Penicillin in 1926 was followed by discovery and use of several groups of antimicrobials, which gave a major boost to modern medicine by significantly decreasing mortality and morbidity. &nbsp;Thus, antimicrobials were regarded as a major breakthrough as they not only cured infectious diseases but also played a key role in success of advanced medical practices viz organ transplant, immunosuppressive therapy, cancer chemotherapy, complicated surgeries specially in contaminated areas, implants etc. &nbsp;However these ‘miracle drugs’ are slowly losing their efficacy due to emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). [1-3]</p><p>Emergence of AMR is a natural evolutionary phenomenon shown by microorganisms against widespread use of antimicrobials. Beta lactams were the first affected group (Table-1) and since then bacteria have gained resistance to other groups of -antibiotics too. None of the classes including even the recently discovered antibiotics have been able to escape this dynamic phenomenon. [3-6]</p> ER -