Biofilms Infection And Antimicrobial Therapy

Rather than existing in a planktonic or free-living form, evidence indicates that microbes show a preference for living in a sessile form within complex communities called biofilms. Biofilms appear to afford microbes a survival advantage by optimizing nutrition, offering protection against hostile elements, and providing a network for cell-to-cell signaling and genetic exchange. Biofilms, Infection, and Antimicrobial Therapy provides an in-depth exploration of biofilms, offering broad background information, as well a detailed look at the serious concerns to which biofilm-associated infections give rise. Prosthetic device infections, such as those involving artificial heart valves, intravascular catheters, or prosthetic joints, are prime examples of biofilm-associated infections. With the increasing use of such devices in the modern practice of medicine, the prevalence of these infections is expected to increase. Unfortunately, one of the most troubling characteristics of microbes found in biofilms is a profound resistance to antimicrobial agents. As biofilm-associated infections are particularly difficult to treat, they result in significant mortality, morbidity, and increased economic burden. Clearly, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of these infections and improved means for prevention and treatment are urgently needed! InBiofilms, Infection, and Antimicrobial Therapy, Drs Pace, Rupp, and Finch assemble the contributions of more than 50 of the world’s leading authorities on microbial biofilms who present recent findings on antibacterial tolerance and bacterial persistence associated with biofilms and discuses the implications of those findings with regard to human health. They explore the molecular mechanisms of bacterial adherence, biofilm formation, regulation of biofilm maintenance, and cell-to-cell communication and present the latest information on various treatment protocols that should aid physicians in the treatment of these refractory and often difficult-to-treat infections.

This book will cover both the evidence for biofilms in many chronic bacterial infections as well as the problems facing these infections such as diagnostics and treatment regimes. A still increasing interest and emphasis on the sessile bacterial lifestyle biofilms has been seen since it was realized that that less than 0.1% of the total microbial biomass lives in the planktonic mode of growth. The term was coined in 1978 by Costerton et al. who defined the term biofilm for the first time.In 1993 the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) recognised that the biofilmmode of growth was relevant to microbiology. Lately many articles have been published on the clinical implications of bacterial biofilms. Both original articles and reviews concerning the biofilm problem are available.

Nanostructures for Antimicrobial Therapy discusses the pros and cons of the use of nanostructured materials in the prevention and eradication of infections, highlighting the efficient microbicidal effect of nanoparticles against antibiotic-resistant pathogens and biofilms. Conventional antibiotics are becoming ineffective towards microorganisms due to their widespread and often inappropriate use. As a result, the development of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms is increasingly being reported. New approaches are needed to confront the rising issues related to infectious diseases. The merging of biomaterials, such as chitosan, carrageenan, gelatin, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) with nanotechnology provides a promising platform for antimicrobial therapy as it provides a controlled way to target cells and induce the desired response without the adverse effects common to many traditional treatments. Nanoparticles represent one of the most promising therapeutic treatments to the problem caused by infectious micro-organisms resistant to traditional therapies. This volume discusses this promise in detail, and also discusses what challenges the greater use of nanoparticles might pose to medical professionals. The unique physiochemical properties of nanoparticles, combined with their growth inhibitory capacity against microbes has led to the upsurge in the research on nanoparticles as antimicrobials. The importance of bactericidal nanobiomaterials study will likely increase as development of resistant strains of bacteria against most potent antibiotics continues. Shows how nanoantibiotics can be used to more effectively treat disease Discusses the advantages and issues of a variety of different nanoantibiotics, enabling medics to select which best meets their needs Provides a cogent summary of recent developments in this field, allowing readers to quickly familiarize themselves with this topic area

Throughout the biological world, bacteria thrive predominantly in surface-attached, matrix-enclosed, multicellular communities or biofilms, as opposed to isolated planktonic cells. This choice of lifestyle is not trivial, as it involves major shifts in the use of genetic information and cellular energy, and has profound consequences for bacterial physiology and survival. Growth within a biofilm can thwart immune function and antibiotic therapy and thereby complicate the treatment of infectious diseases, especially chronic and foreign device-associated infections. Modern studies of many important biofilms have advanced well beyond the descriptive stage, and have begun to provide molecular details of the structural, biochemical, and genetic processes that drive biofilm formation and its dispersion. There is much diversity in the details of biofilm development among various species, but there are also commonalities. In most species, environmental and nutritional conditions greatly influence biofilm development. Similar kinds of adhesive molecules often promote biofilm formation in diverse species. Signaling and regulatory processes that drive biofilm development are often conserved, especially among related bacteria. Knowledge of such processes holds great promise for efforts to control biofilm growth and combat biofilm-associated infections. This volume focuses on the biology of biofilms that affect human disease, although it is by no means comprehensive. It opens with chapters that provide the reader with current perspectives on biofilm development, physiology, environmental, and regulatory effects, the role of quorum sensing, and resistance/phenotypic persistence to antimicrobial agents during biofilm growth.

Bacterial biofilm is a complex structure with diverse bacterial cells in a highly organized and ordered group within a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances they produce. Microbes attach to surfaces to develop biofilms, a sophisticated process regulated by factors such as nutritional status and biotic/abiotic surface features. An established biofilm structure mainly comprises bacterial cells, proteins, nucleic acid, and exo-polysaccharides that are extracellular macromolecules excreted as tightly bound layers in microbes, providing a perfect niche for bacteria to exchange genetic material between cells. In addition, bacterial cells in the matrix also communicate via quorum sensing, which greatly impacts biofilm processes. Under clinical circumstances, bacterial biofilm shows great resistance to antibiotics, disinfectants, and body defense systems, making it difficult for clinicians to eradicate and facilitate many infectious disease processes, leading to chronic infections of patients with long-term hospitalization and high mortality rates. Therefore, it is very important to understand the recent advances in forming, regulating, and eradicating biofilms in human infections to better prevent, control, and treat biofilm infections in humans. Written by an international team of basic and clinical researchers, the chapters of this book provide novel insights and advanced knowledge for life science researchers, clinical researchers, doctors, and other interested readers on some of the latest developments in biofilms.

Approximately 60% of all hospital-associated infections, over one million cases per year, are due to biofilms that have formed on indwelling medical devices. Device-related biofilm infections increase hospital stays and add over one billion dollars/year to U.S. hospitalization costs. Since the use and the types of indwelling medical devices commonly used in modern healthcare are continuously expanding, especially with an aging population, the incidence of biofilm infections will also continue to rise. The central problem with microbial biofilm infections of foreign bodies is their propensity to resist clearance by the host immune system and all antimicrobial agents tested to date. In fact, compared to their free floating, planktonic counterparts, microbes within a biofilm are 50 – 500 times more resistant to antimicrobial agents. Therefore, achieving therapeutic and non-lethal dosing regimens within the human host is impossible. The end result is a conversion from an acute infection to one that is persistent, chronic, and recurrent, most often requiring device removal in order to eliminate the infection. This text will describe the major types of device-related infections, and will explain the host, pathogen, and the unique properties of their interactions in order to gain a better understanding of these recalcitrant infections.

Biofilms are ubiquitous and their presence in industry can lead to production losses. However, nowhere do biofilms impact human health and welfare as much as those that are found contaminating the healthcare environment, surgical instruments, equipment, and medical implantable devices. Approximately 70% of healthcare-associated infections are due to biofilm formation, resulting in increased patient morbidity and mortality. Biofilms formed on medical implants are recalcitrant to antibiotic treatment, which leaves implant removal as the principal treatment option. In this book, we investigate the role of biofilms in breast and dental implant disease and cancer. We include in vitro models for investigating treatment of chronic wounds and disinfectant action against Candida sp. Also included are papers on the most recent strategies for treating biofilm infection ranging from antibiotics incorporated into bone void fillers to antimicrobial peptides and quorum sensing.

During the recent transition between acute diseases caused by swarms of single planktonic bacteria, and chronic infections caused by bacteria growing in slime-enclosed biofilms, a general clinical consensus has emerged that pathologies with bacterial etiologies are frequently culture negative. Because biofilm infections now affect 17 million Americans per year (killing approximately 450,000), the suggestion that these common and lethal infections regularly go unnoticed by the only FDA-approved method for their detection and characterization is a matter of urgent concern. Biologically, we would expect that planktonic bacterial cells would colonize any new surface, including the surface of an agar plate, while the specialized sessile cells of a biofilm community would have no such proclivity. In the study of biofilm diseases ranging from otitis media to prostatitis, it was found that direct microscopy and DNA- and RNA-based molecular methods regularly document the presence of living bacteria in tissues and samples that are culture negative. The editors selected orthopedic biofilm infections as the subject of this book because these infections occur against a background of microbiological sterility in which modern molecular methods would be expected to find bacterial DNA, RNA-based microscopic methods would be expected to locate bacterial cells, and cultures would be negative. Moreover, in Orthopedics we find an already biofilm-adapted surgical group in which current strategies are based on the meticulous removal of compromised tissues, antibiotic options as based on high biofilm-killing local doses, and there are practical bedside strategies for dealing with biofilm infections. So here is where the new paradigm of biofilm infection meets the equally new paradigm of the culture negativity of biofilms, and this volume presents a conceptual synthesis that may soon combine the most effective molecular methods for the detection and identification of bacteria with a surgical discipline that is ready to help patients.