The role of nanotechnology in combating multi-drug resistant bacteria

The development of antibiotics has played a significant role in combating the dreaded infectious disease such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, typhoid fever and meningitis in 20th century. However, the improper use of antibiotics led to the development of multidrug resistance (MDR) in microbial flora raising a global public health concern of 21st century. This unforeseen threat demands the development of new drugs and strategies for combating antibiotic resistance shown by many microbial species. Recent developments in nanotechnology to engineer nanoparticles with desired physicochemical properties have been projected as a new line of defense against MDR micro-organism. In this review, we summarized and discussed the recent development demonstrating the potential of nanomaterials to evade the MDR. Nanoparticles have shown effective antimicrobial activity against MDR bacteria, such as Acinetobacter baumanii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, vancomycin resistant enterococci, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and others. Furthermore, new strategies like combination of radiation and drugs with nanoparticle that are being explored to potentiate the effectiveness against MDR bacteria have also been summarized.