New Strategies Combating Bacterial Infection

Combating bacterial infections calls for a multidisciplinary approach and this is what is on offer here. Written by an experienced international team of researchers from various fields ranging from biotechnology to traditional medicine, the book provides complete and comprehensive coverage of topics relevant to new antibacterial drugs. This ready reference and handbook adopts a novel approach, focusing on combating multi-drug resistance in bacteria by developing antibacterials with new target sites, using new advances in drug discovery as well as natural products. Divided into three sections, the first describes the problem of drug resistance and the need for new drugs, while the second treats recent trends and new classes of drugs, including relevant developments in transcriptomics and proteomics leading to new antimicrobial drug discovery, and a new generation of antibiotics and non-antibiotics. The third section on natural products discusses the antibacterial action of phytocompounds, plant extracts, essential oils and honey as well as the role of probiotics in bacterial infections. Invaluable to students of medicine, pharmaceutical sciences, phytomedicine and microbiology and all those wanting to know about the possibilities and limitations of new antibacterial drugs. Furthermore, its coverage of plants and other natural products makes this relevant to the pharmaceutical and herbal industries.

Dr Iqbal Ahmad is a Reader in Agricultural Microbiology at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh,India. He has several years of teaching and research experience and he published 2 books (one of them by Wiley-VCH) and over 50 research papers. His current research interests include antipathogenic, anti-adherence and anti-quorum sensing activities of medicinal plants and natural products against multi-drug resistant bacteria.

Dr. Farrukh Aqil is a Lecturer in Biotechnology, Integral University, Aligarh, India. His research interests include interaction studies of natural products/phytocompounds with antibiotics and macromolecules, cytotoxicity testing of natural products and characterization of active principles from promising bioactive plant extracts. He has published over 14 research papers and 3 chapters in books.

Molecular Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance: the Need for Novel Antimicrobial Therapies (Dale-Skinner, Boney).Novel approaches combating drug resistant bacteria (Ahmad, Zahin, Aqil, Khan).Promising current drug candidates in clinical trials and natural products against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) (Vinus, de Souza).Non-Antibiotic, an Alternative for Microbial Resistance: Scope and Hope (Chattopadhyay, Sujit, Bhattacharya).Use of Natural Products to Combat Multi-drug Resistant Bacteria (Slover, Mahady).West African plants and related phytocompounds with Anti-MDR activity. (Witabouna, Kagoyire).Essential Oils and New Antimicrobial Strategies (Baby, George).Application of plant extracts and products in veterinary infections (Eloff, McGaw).Honey: Antimicrobial actions and role in disease management (Molan).Honey: biological characteristics and potential role in disease management (Shahid).Probiotics: benefits in human health and bacterial disease management (Collado, Sanz).