RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTIC AGENTS: PERSPECTIVE AND REALITY
VozAndes; 32 (1), 2021
Publication year: 2021
Microorganisms have infected humans since time immemorial and in
this context, we have lived through an endless war that has produced
increasingly complex adaptation and selection pressure. Although
antibiotics marked a new era beginning in 1928, it is interesting to mention
that traces of tetracycline were found in human bone samples from
ancient Sudanese Nubia dating from 350–550 AD. C (1).
Paul Erlich, by his staining methods, already deduced at the end of the
19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, that there may be
a magic bullet that acts on microorganisms to eliminate them, without
affecting other cell types. This molecule is currently known as an antibiotic
or antimicrobial in relation to its natural or synthetic origin. Of this interest,
in 1910 the first molecule with studies in rabbits infected with syphilis to
demonstrate antimicrobial activity was described (2,3).