Antibiotic resistance during therapy: mechanisms and means of control

Antibiotic resistance is a serious public health problem. The most effective way to control this phenomenon is to make rational use of antibiotics. However, antibiotic resistance is a complex process in which clinical, pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic and microbiological factors all play a part. Since antibiotic therapy is usually performed empirically, clinicians should follow guidelines that take all these factors into account together with the concepts of evidence based medicine. These guidelines may be elaborated using information technology tools that help to collect, analyze and weigh up all the information available on a certain pathogen. Therefore, the administration of antibiotics should be controlled with the help of multi-disciplinary working groups and in accordance with objective data collected following a thorough analysis of all the available information.