Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to the ability of a microorganism to grow in the presence of drug or a chemical that would normally limit its growth or kill it.
It makes it difficult for the existing drugs to eliminate the infection as they become less effective against the microbe.
There are five major mechanisms by which a microbe attains resistance against antimicrobial chemical or drug:
Drug modification or inactivation: A microbial enzyme inactivates the antimicrobial agent. For example, few bacteria produce β-lactamases which provide multi-resistance against β-lactam antibiotics such as penicillin, cephalosporin etc.
Alteration or modification of target site: An altered target site prevents the antimicrobial agent from binding to its target. For example, alteration of penicillin binding protein (PBP) in Methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus aureus </em>(MRSA).
Alteration of metabolic pathway: The microbe uses an alternative pathway to circumvent the blocked pathway. For example, sulfonamides-resistant bacteria started using preformed folic acid in place of para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA).
Decreased drug accumulation: Microbial efflux pumps remove the antimicrobial agent (before it could do any damage) by pumping it out of the cell.
Decrease in cell permeability: The permeability of the microbial envelope to the antimicrobial agent is decreased
These include clumped, even, and random. If individuals are evenly dispersed, they are located at equal intervals. If they are clumped, they are bunched together in clusters. Random dispersion means the location of each individual is determined by chance. The most common type of dispersion in nature is clumped.
