Bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR), also known as antibiotic resistance, is a phenomenon by which bacteria change to evade the effects of antibiotics and therefore survive. Resistant bacteria are responsible for an estimated 35,000 deaths annually in the EU/EEA according to The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. When humans or animals are given antibiotics, they are metabolised in the body to help to get rid of them. These metabolites are excreted along with an amount of the unmetabolised antibiotic. Wastewater treatment plants, agricultural runoff, and hospital effluent are all sources from which antibiotics and their metabolites can enter our environment. Exposure to low levels of antibiotics can result in the development of resistance in bacteria in the environment, which ultimately may have an effect on human health if they get into the food chain. However, at present nothing is known about the role of antibiotic metabolites in the development of resistance to the original antibiotics.
We have adapted and improved existing methods for the synthesis of the metabolites of antibiotics from the very commonly used fluoroquinolone, β-lactam, and sulfonamide classes, namely Ciprofloxacin, Amoxicillin, and Sulfamethoxazole; all of which are on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. These metabolites are all commercially available, though they are very expensive for small quantities. We have made enough of these metabolites to conduct a wide range of studies. So far, we have conducted studies with the clinically important Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus species, with some interesting results obtained.
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