International Journal of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Research
ISSN: 2053-1818
Vol. 9(3), pp. 38-50, June, 2021
doi.org/10.33500/ijambr.2021.09.004

Antibiotics: Classifications and mechanism of resistance

Hyellavala Joseph Fomnya¹ ⃰, Saidu Ibrahim Ngulde¹, Kazabu Ahmed Amshi² and Garleya Bilbonga³

¹Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria.
²Department of Theriogenology, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
³Department of Animal Production and Health, Federal University Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: josephhyellavala@gmail.com.

Received 11 April, 2021; Received in revised form 11 May, 2021; Accepted 14 May, 2021.

Abstract

Keywords:
Bacterial pathogen, Antibacterial agent, Antibiotic classification, Antibiotic resistance.

Since the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s, antibiotics have become one of the cornerstones of modern medicine. Infectious diseases caused by bacterial pathogens represent a greater percentage of public health concern. In clinical medicine, antimicrobial agents are often indicated for chemotherapy of infectious diseases that are bacterial in origin. Since the discovery and subsequent widespread use of antibiotics, a variety of bacterial species of human and animal origin have developed numerous mechanisms that render bacteria resistant to some, and in certain cases to nearly all antibiotics. Thus, it is important to study the classifications and biological mechanisms which made the bacterial pathogens to survive in the presence of these inhibitory agents. Understanding antibiotic classification and how these bacterial resistance mechanisms work from the standpoint of molecular physiology and biochemistry will discourage unnecessary antibiotic prescription as well as identify new targets for potential inhibition of multi-drug resistance and thus restore clinical utility of chemotherapy of infectious disease caused by serious bacterial pathogens.