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Antibiotics
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Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects
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Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Novel Antimicrobial Agents".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 April 2025 | Viewed by 10928

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Marius Stefan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
BioActive Research Group, Faculty of Biology, University Alexandru Ioan Cuza of Iasi, Iasi, Romania
Interests: plant–microbial interactions; PGPR; biofertilizers; biopesticides
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Antimicrobial resistance is considered by the World Health Organization to be one of the 10 global public health menaces facing humanity today, with serious medical, social and economic impacts. New data from 2022 studies estimate around 5 million deaths associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year. More and more patients with infections caused by multidrug resistance pathogens no longer respond to available treatments. In addition, the antimicrobial pipeline has dried out, with less and less new antibiotics available on the market. Therefore, finding new innovative and effective solutions to keep the pace with the antibiotic resistance developed by microbial pathogens is particularly challenging and represents an important objective of current biomedical research.

In this Special Issue, we welcome the submission of publications on the most recent research in the discovery of new antimicrobials and strategies used to fight antimicrobial resistance. We invite authors to publish their original findings in this Antibiotics Special Issue entitled “Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects”.

This Special Issue will provide new insights on the discovery of new antimicrobials and strategies used to fight antimicrobial resistance; in this way, fitting into the scope of Antibiotics (advances in research on new antibiotics; antibiotic resistance; qualitative and quantitative research exploring the determinants of antimicrobial use and resistance).

Dr. Marius Stefan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • multidrug-resistant pathogens
  • infectious diseases
  • antibiotic resistance
  • new antimicrobials
  • drug development
  • antimicrobial activity
  • structure–activity relationship (SAR)
  • antimicrobial therapy

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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25 pages, 6961 KiB  
Article
Nail Lacquer Containing Origanum vulgare and Rosmarinus officinalis Essential Oils and Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles for Onychomycosis: Development, Characterization, and Evaluation of Antifungal Efficacy
by Sara Scandorieiro, Natalia Rodrigues de Oliveira, Monique de Souza, Lidiane Vizioli de Castro-Hoshino, Mauro Luciano Baesso, Gerson Nakazato, Renata Katsuko Takayama Kobayashi, Luciano Aparecido Panagio and Audrey Alesandra Stinghen Garcia Lonni
Antibiotics 2024, 13(9), 892; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13090892 - 17 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 996
Abstract
Onychomycosis is a common fungal nail infection for which new antifungals are needed to overcome antimicrobial resistance and the limitations of conventional treatments. This study reports the development of antifungal nail lacquers containing oregano essential oil (OEO), rosemary essential oil (REO), and biogenic [...] Read more.
Onychomycosis is a common fungal nail infection for which new antifungals are needed to overcome antimicrobial resistance and the limitations of conventional treatments. This study reports the development of antifungal nail lacquers containing oregano essential oil (OEO), rosemary essential oil (REO), and biogenic silver nanoparticles (bioAgNPs). The formulations (F) were tested against dermatophytes using agar diffusion, ex vivo nail infection, and scanning electron microscopy techniques. They were evaluated for their pharmacotechnical characteristics and by FTIR-PAS to assess permeation across the nail. F-OEO and F-OEO/bioAgNPs were promising candidates for the final nail lacquer formulation, as they permeated through the nail and showed antifungal efficacy against dermatophytes-contaminated nails after 5 days of treatment. Treated nails exhibited decreased hyphae and spores compared to the untreated control; the hyphae were atypically flattened, indicating loss of cytoplasmic content due to damage to the cytoplasmic membrane. The formulations were stable after centrifugation and thermal stress, maintaining organoleptic and physicochemical characteristics. Both F-OEO and F-OEO/bioAgNPs had pH compatible with the nail and drying times (59–90 s) within the reference for nail lacquer. For the first time, OEO and bioAgNPs were incorporated into nail lacquer, resulting in a natural and nanotechnological product for onychomycosis that could combat microbial resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects)
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17 pages, 1314 KiB  
Article
Retrospective Study on Staphylococcus aureus Resistance Profile and Antibiotic Use in a Pediatric Population
by Danilo Buonsenso, Martina Giaimo, Davide Pata, Alessia Rizzi, Barbara Fiori, Teresa Spanu, Antonio Ruggiero, Giorgio Attinà, Marco Piastra, Orazio Genovese, Giovanni Vento, Simonetta Costa, Eloisa Tiberi, Maurizio Sanguinetti and Piero Valentini
Antibiotics 2023, 12(9), 1378; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12091378 - 28 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1881
Abstract
The growing phenomenon of antibiotic resistance and the presence of limited data concerning the pediatric area prompted us to focus on Staphylococcus aureus infection in this study, its antibiotic resistance profile, and the therapeutic management of affected children. We conducted a retrospective study [...] Read more.
The growing phenomenon of antibiotic resistance and the presence of limited data concerning the pediatric area prompted us to focus on Staphylococcus aureus infection in this study, its antibiotic resistance profile, and the therapeutic management of affected children. We conducted a retrospective study by collecting clinical data on infants and children with antibiogram-associated S. aureus infection. We enrolled 1210 patients with a mean age of 0.9 years. We analyzed the resistance patterns and found 61.5% resistance to oxacillin, 58.4% resistance to cephalosporins, 41.6% resistance to aminoglycosides, and 38.3% resistance to fluoroquinolones. Importantly, we found no resistance to glycopeptides, a key antibiotic for MRSA infections whose resistance is increasing worldwide. We also found that the main risk factors associated with antibiotic resistance are being aged between 0 and 28 days, the presence of devices, and comorbidities. Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern; knowing the resistance profiles makes it possible to better target the therapy; however, it is important to use antibiotics according to the principles of antibiotic stewardship to limit their spread. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects)
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12 pages, 4640 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Antibacterial Activities of Mangrove Honeybee Propolis Extract and the Identification of Transpeptidase and Transglycosylase as Targets for New Antibiotics Using Molecular Docking
by Maha A. Alshiekheid
Antibiotics 2023, 12(7), 1197; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12071197 - 17 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1507
Abstract
Developing new antibiotics is a critical area of research that grows as a result of the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. Scientists search for new antibiotics by screening natural sources such as soil, plants, and marine environments. One of the iconic plants in [...] Read more.
Developing new antibiotics is a critical area of research that grows as a result of the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. Scientists search for new antibiotics by screening natural sources such as soil, plants, and marine environments. One of the iconic plants in the marine environment is the mangrove, which is a source of honeybee propolis. Propolis collected from the grey mangrove Avicennia marina on Tarout Island, the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, was used to evaluate antibacterial activities against three pathogenic bacteria: gram-negative Enterobacter cloacae (RCMB 001(1) ATCC® 23355TM), gram-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (clinical isolate), and Streptococcus mutans Clark (RCMB 017(1) ATCC® 25175TM). The results indicate the effectiveness of the methanolic extract of such propolis. The chemical composition of this extract was analyzed using LC-MS, and four compounds were identified (alginic acid, carrageenan, fucoxanthin, cycloeudesmol). Their modes of action were evaluated against bacterial cell walls. Bacterial transpeptidase and transglycosylase on the surface are basic for cell divider amalgamation, and numerous antimicrobials have been created to target these compounds. Molecular docking was employed to predict the interactions of four compounds and S. aureus to predict interaction. Alginic acid was found to be the best interaction with a score of −7.44 Kcal/mol with distance ranges between 2.86 and 3.64 and RMSD refined below 2 Å. Carrageenan with −6.64 Kcal/mol and a distance of 3.05 and 2.87 came second. Then, fucoxanthin with −6.57 Kcal/mol and a distance of 1.4. Finally, cycloeudesmol with a score of −4.6 Kcal/mol and a distance of 2.87 showed the least activity. The first three compounds interacted effectively and could form very promising chemicals that could be used one day against pathogenic bacteria in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects)
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11 pages, 270 KiB  
Article
In Vitro Activity of Cefiderocol against a Global Collection of Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates
by Harald Seifert, Carina Müller, Danuta Stefanik, Paul G. Higgins, Esther Wohlfarth and Michael Kresken
Antibiotics 2023, 12(7), 1172; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12071172 - 11 Jul 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1882
Abstract
Background: Cefiderocol is a novel siderophore cephalosporin with potent activity against multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens including carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB). Methods: The susceptibility of 313 non-duplicate CRAB isolates with defined carbapenem resistance mechanisms from a global collection to cefiderocol, ceftazidime, ceftazidime/avibactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, ciprofloxacin, colistin, [...] Read more.
Background: Cefiderocol is a novel siderophore cephalosporin with potent activity against multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens including carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB). Methods: The susceptibility of 313 non-duplicate CRAB isolates with defined carbapenem resistance mechanisms from a global collection to cefiderocol, ceftazidime, ceftazidime/avibactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, ciprofloxacin, colistin, imipenem/relebactam, meropenem, meropenem/vaborbactam, minocycline, and piperacillin/tazobactam was determined using the broth microdilution method. Isolates were obtained from various body sites from patients in 47 countries in five world regions between 2012 and 2016. The identification of carbapenem resistance mechanisms and assignment to A. baumannii international clonal lineages were based on whole genome sequencing. Results: Cefiderocol showed greater activity than comparator antimicrobials of the β-lactam class, including novel β-lactams combined with β-lactamase inhibitors, ciprofloxacin, and minocycline. Cefiderocol MIC50 and MIC90 values were 0.5 mg/L and 4 mg/L, respectively, while colistin had comparable activity with a higher MIC50 at 1 mg/L and a lower MIC90 value of 2 mg/L. Many isolates with elevated cefiderocol MICs ≥ 4 mg/L represented A. baumannii international clone (IC) 1 and harbored a metallo-β-lactamase. Conclusions: While cefiderocol is a useful addition to the limited armamentarium of drugs targeting this problematic pathogen, a considerable part of CRAB isolates had elevated MIC values in a range of 4 -> 32 mg/L, including all isolates with a metallo-β-lactamase. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects)
14 pages, 1870 KiB  
Article
Physicochemical and Biological Characterization of Encapsulated Olive Leaf Extracts for Food Preservation
by Wafa Medfai, Imen Oueslati, Emilie Dumas, Zina Harzalli, Christophe Viton, Ridha Mhamdi and Adem Gharsallaoui
Antibiotics 2023, 12(6), 987; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12060987 - 31 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1755
Abstract
Phenolic compounds in olive leaves have an excellent antioxidant activity and good antimicrobial properties. These bioactive molecules have beneficial properties for health, arousing great scientific and commercial interest. This study reports lyophilized olive leaf extracts (OLE) encapsulated by spray-drying using maltodextrins, maltodextrins–pectin and [...] Read more.
Phenolic compounds in olive leaves have an excellent antioxidant activity and good antimicrobial properties. These bioactive molecules have beneficial properties for health, arousing great scientific and commercial interest. This study reports lyophilized olive leaf extracts (OLE) encapsulated by spray-drying using maltodextrins, maltodextrins–pectin and maltodextrins–gum Arabic as encapsulating agents. Lyophilized OLE were collected from two varieties cultivated in a harsh pedo-climatic conditions of the arid region of Tunisia. The effects of the genetic factor and the different encapsulating agents on the physicochemical properties of microcapsules and their behavior during storage, as well as their antimicrobial activities, were studied. Microcapsules successfully passed heat treatment and storage conditions and their antimicrobial activities were preserved. The encapsulating agent combination improved the encapsulation efficiency and the product yield in Zarrazi variety compared to Dhokar one. In addition, Dhokar variety microparticles showed the best heat stability at 4 and 25 °C after 90 days of storage and the higher inhibition percent against bacteria. The results of the present study evidenced that the best conditions for OLE encapsulation were obtained when the maltodextrins–pectin and maltodextrins–gum Arabic were combined to form a hybrid coating material. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects)
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8 pages, 618 KiB  
Case Report
The Use of Cefiderocol as Salvage Therapy in an Infant Receiving ECMO and Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy
by Stefania Mercadante, Costanza Tripiciano, Lorenza Romani, Matteo Di Nardo, Gabriella Bottari, Bianca Maria Goffredo, Raffaele Simeoli, Isabella Guzzo, Laura Lancella, Charalampos Antachopoulos and Maia De Luca
Antibiotics 2024, 13(1), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13010037 - 30 Dec 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2156
Abstract
Background: Infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) pathogens are increasing worldwide, representing a serious global public health issue with high morbidity and mortality rates The treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infections has become a significant challenge due to its ability to develop resistance to [...] Read more.
Background: Infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) pathogens are increasing worldwide, representing a serious global public health issue with high morbidity and mortality rates The treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infections has become a significant challenge due to its ability to develop resistance to many of the currently available antibiotics, especially in intensive care unit (ICU) settings. Among the very few therapeutic lines available against extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-PA and/or with difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR)-PA, cefiderocol is an injectable siderophore cephalosporin not licensed for use in pediatric patients. There are only a few case reports and two ongoing trials describing the administration of this cephalosporin in infants. Case presentation: This report describes the case of a critically ill 8-month-old girl affected by ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) infection complicated by bloodstream infection (BSI) sustained by VIM-producing PA. She was treated with cefiderocol as a salvage therapy during ECMO and CRRT support. Conclusions: In healthcare settings, treating multidrug-resistant, Gram-negative bacteria poses a serious challenge, especially in pediatric patients. Our findings suggest that cefiderocol can be considered as an off-label rescue therapy in selected pediatric cases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobials Agents: Latest Advances and Prospects)
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