Functionalized Nanomaterials for the Management of Microbial Infection. A Strategy to Address Microbial Drug Resistance. A volume in Micro and Nano Technologies

Abstract

Functionalized Nanomaterials for the Management of Microbial Infection: A Strategy to Address Microbial Drug Resistance introduces the reader to the newly developing use of nanotechnology to combat microbial drug resistance. Excessive use of antibiotics and antimicrobial agents has produced an inexorable rise in antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. The use of nanotechnology is currently the most promising strategy to overcome microbial drug resistance. This book shows how, due to their small size, nanoparticles can surmount existing drug resistance mechanisms, including decreased uptake and increased efflux of the drug from the microbial cell, biofilm formation, and intracellular bacteria. In particular, chapters cover the use of nanoparticles to raise intracellular antimicrobial levels, thus directly targeting sites of infection and packaging multiple antimicrobial agents onto a single nanoparticle.