Emerging Nanomaterials and Nano-based Drug Delivery Approaches to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

Antimicrobial resistance threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses, and fungi. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death. As a result, the medicines become ineffective, and infections persist in the body, increasing the risk of spread to others. Antimicrobials, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics, are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans and animals. Microorganisms that develop antimicrobial resistance are sometimes referred to as "superbugs". Nanomaterials can overcome the antibiotic-resistance mechanisms owing to their unique physicochemical properties, enabling nanomaterials to execute multiple novel microbicidal pathways to achieve antimicrobial activity. Nanomaterials can bind and disrupt bacterial membranes, causing leakage of cytoplasmic components. Nanomaterials have emerged as new tools that can be used to combat deadly microbial infections. This book focuses on the recent emerging trends on nanomaterials and nano-drug delivery approaches to combat antimicrobial resistance. The relationship between the nanomaterials, antimicrobial activity is needed to be deeply explored to meet the abiding challenges to combat the antimicrobial resistance. The content of this book is divided into three main topic areas including (i) how to overcome the existing traditional approaches to combat antimicrobial resistance (ii) applying multiple drug delivery mechanisms to target multi-drug resistant microbes (iii) how the nanomaterials can be used as drug carriers. This is an important reference source for those looking to understand how nanotechnology plays an important role in combatting disease and infection. Outlines how to overcome existing traditional approaches to combatting antimicrobial resistance Explains how to apply multiple drug delivery mechanisms (MDR) to the target area in order to better combat antimicrobial resistance Shows how nanomaterials are used as drug carriers in this context