Microbial Resistance, a Worldwide Concern a Global Sight

Dear Colleagues,

Microbial resistance is a global public health problem. Intervention for the detection, characterization and search for strategies to face microorganisms with resistance mechanisms encourages researchers around the world to focus their efforts in the generation of knowledge. It is estimated that by 2050, there will be 10 million deaths associated with this health problem, while recent studies report that until 2019, there were close to 5 million. This topic aims to bring together experts from around the world to submit their scientific contributions within the framework of identification methods, characterization of resistance mechanisms, clinical-microbiological impact, design of strategies and development of new molecules.

Since the appearance of the first antimicrobial molecules, the battle against microorganisms has intensified. As new molecules were developed, new resistance mechanisms were characterized. In the 1950s–1960s, there was an antimicrobial boom: the golden era. As the years have passed, antimicrobial resistance has been increasing at an accelerated pace; on the other hand, the generation of new antimicrobial molecules, either de novo, by derivatization or chemical synthesis has decreased or slowed down. Due to the decrease of antimicrobials and the increase of resistant pathogens, in 2017, the World Health Organization published a list of priority pathogens for the scientific community to conglomerate efforts for the search of strategies that can combat these types of microorganisms. The pathogens of clinical–microbiological relevance were classified into three groups: critical, high and medium priority. In the critical priority group, microorganisms are widely distributed in nosocomial environments as products of several factors, such as inadequate use, excessive selection pressure and poor selection of molecules. These microorganisms include carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales. The high priority group encompasses vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, methicillin-resistant and intermediate or resistant to vancomycin Staphylococcus aureus, clarithromycin-resistant Helicobacter pylori, fluoroquinolones-resistant Campylobacter spp., fluoroquinolones-resistant Salmonellae and cephalosporin- and fluoroquinolones-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae. On the other hand, in medium priority group, we found Streptococcus pneumoniae not susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin-resistant Haemophilus influenzae and fluroquinolone-resistant Shigella spp. Estimates have been made on the impact of these microorganisms with resistance mechanisms and the outlook for 2050 is quite worrying. According to several studies, we know that today mortality is increased in these microorganisms if they possess resistance mechanisms. The classic comparative case is Enterobacteriaceae resistant to carbapenemase-producing and non-producing carbapenemases, for which the result shows statistical significance in mortality associated with the production of carbapenemase enzymes as the resistance mechanism. The same was observed when Enterococcus faecium has resistance to vancomycin, and increased mortality is associated.

We invite you to submit a review article or original research related to these issues.

The topic selected may be, but are not are limited to, the following:

• Novel epidemiological reports of the listed microorganisms;
• Molecular epidemiological reports;
• New resistance mechanisms;
• Characterization of resistance mechanisms in clinical isolates;
• Reports of molecules with activity against these microorganisms;
• Generation of novel identification methods of resistance mechanisms;
• Sequencing of complete genomes of microorganisms with resistance mechanisms;
• Description of new, novel or existing resistance mechanisms in collections of clinical isolates;
• Behavior of multidrug-resistant microorganisms in geographic regions connoted by molecular epidemiological impact ST.

Prof. Dr. Luis Esaú López Jácome
Prof. Dr. Claudia Adriana Colín-Castro
Prof. Dr. Rafael Franco-Cendejas
Dr. Jossue Mizael Ortiz-Álvarez
Guest Editors

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• gram negative
• resistance
• gram positive
• resistance mechanisms
• carbapenemases
• vancomycin
• efflux pumps
• loss porins
• mutations