Considerazioni sulle cause dell’aumento dei batteri resistenti agli antibiotici e sulle prospettive della terapia fagica

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been growing attention to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the resulting risk of death from bacterial infections. It is emphasized that this phenomenon was entirely predictable: all resistance in biology responds to Darwin’s fitness principle, which involves the emergence of random mutations that can be advantageous for survival in response to environmental changes. While until now, pharmacological research has focused primarily on new, more potent antibiotics, recent years have seen a surge in interest in new strategies to combat bacterial infections. These include the use of bacteriophages (or phages), which are bacterial viruses with lytic capacity and, since their discovery in the first two decades of the 20th century, have been considered suitable as antimicrobials