Strategies to Combat Multidrug Resistance by Non-traditional Therapeutic Approaches

Drug resistance is currently acknowledged as the most concerning healthcare issue worldwide. Antibiotic resistance in all clinically significant pathogens, a halt in the discovery and development of new antibiotics, and recurrent infections brought on by multidrug-resistant pathogens are some of the problematic aspects of the current antibiotic crisis that affect both developing and developed countries. All these issues are impeding the effectiveness of conventional antibiotics as a therapeutic option, which is why non-traditional approaches are becoming more popular. Despite several non-traditional approaches to fight drug resistance have gained interest, their use is restricted since they call for advanced diagnostics that go beyond pathogen identification, and only a few therapies have reached late-stage clinical trials. Exotoxin-targeted therapies are one of the most advanced non-traditional therapies used to treat infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile. Another important non-traditional approach to treat or prevent C. difficile infection is the microbiome therapy. It is more likely that after approval of any non-traditional therapy, it would be used concomitantly with antibiotics to fudge multidrug resistance. This chapter discusses the characteristics of such unconventional therapies and how they can be applied to treat multidrug-resistant diseases.