A Timeline of Antibiotic Resistance

See timeline above

Golden Era of Development

Introduction of antibiotic agents with penicillin in the 1940s produced a breakthrough health intervention, saving millions of lives

The ‘golden era’ of antibiotic discovery in the 1940s-1960s Streptomycin, tetracycline, vancomycin developed among

many others Commercial development of a huge number of drug classes Global effort to find new antibiotics through screening of

microbes Many bacterial diseases receded

Emergence of ResistanceA parallel surge in strains of antibiotic resistant

bacteria appeared only years after development of the antibiotic

As early as the 1940s isolates of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to penicillin were identified

Although antibiotic agent discovery continued, resistance has began to increase sharply

Loss of effectiveness becoming common for all antibiotics after continued use

Number of unique β-lactamase (resistance causing) enzymes

identified

Increasing Development Gaps and Growing

ResistanceSince the 1960s, development of antibiotics has been

decliningLarger gaps between development of new antibioticsOnly one new antibiotic agent in the last decadeDevelopment becoming more expensive for drug

companiesMany of the most effective antibacterials have now

been rendered ineffective – with many multidrug resistant strains arising

Leaves an uncertain future concerning bacterial diseases

ReferencesTimeline produced by Centre of Disease Control

and Prevention USA, found at:https://thefern.org/2013/11/imagining-the-post-ant

ibiotics-future/timeline-of-antibiotic-resistance/

Graph and other informationDavies J, Davies D. Origins and evolution of

antibiotic resistance. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews. 2010;74(3):417-433.