Chapters authored
Toxicity of β-Lactam Antibiotics: Pathophysiology, Molecular Biology and Possible Recovery Strategies
Beta (β)-lactam antibiotics are wide-spectrum antibiotics used for various bacterial infections. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the knowledge about the toxicity of β-lactam antibiotics and issues associated to their inappropriate use. This review has highlighted that β-lactam antibiotics are a group of products that have a chemical structure characterized by a β-lactam ring and are one of the most common antibacterial agents. However, due to the inappropriate use including abuse and misuse, resistance to the β-lactam antibiotics is currently a global crisis. Moreover, even when used appropriately, they have been linked to triggering allergic reactions like urticaria, bronchoconstriction, also severe conditions like immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia and intravascular haemolysis. It is known that some β-lactam antibiotics are neurotoxic, some are nephrotoxic, some are genotoxic and some are toxic to urogenital system. Several factors are involved in the occurrence of toxic effects including the dosage and renal status. Several strategies are possible to overcome β-lactam antibiotics-triggered toxicity, including rational prescribing, substitution combination and phage therapy which seems promising. Public health education for clinical teams and patients is essential in ensuring that this group of antibiotics are retained in therapeutics.
Part of the book: Poisoning
Insight into the mobilome of Escherichia coli
Mobilomes are all mobile genetic elements (plasmids, transposable elements, insertion sequences, gene cassettes, integrons, genomic islands, and bacteriophages) in a genome. Mobilome is one of the responsible agents for the bacterial evolution, virulence, and increasing antibiotic resistance. The mobile genetic elements in the Escherichia coli genome can carry antibiotic resistance genes and/or virulence genes. The acquisition of new mobile genetic elements can lead to the emergence of new pathotypes. The aim of this chapter is to gather knowledge about mobile genetic elements in E. coli strains. The method in this chapter depends on a literature survey, which scans reviews, research articles, and theses published about transposable elements, plasmids, bacteriophages, and genomic islands in E. coli strains.
Part of the book: The Universe of Escherichia coli