Exploring the Strategies to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance in ESKAPE Pathogens; A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is a huge challenge for the global health system, bringing about massive mortalities throughout the world. On the landscape of infectious diseases, the ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) organisms have emerged as grave threats, leading to millions of life-threatening infections. These pathogens have developed numerous mechanisms of resistance against conventional antibiotic agents such as penicillins, cephalosporins, glycopeptides, etc. The prospective research is pursuing novel methodologies for combating antimicrobial resistance in ESKAPE bacteria. This review depicts strategies other than conventional antibiotic agents to tackle the rising tendencies of antimicrobial resistance in ESKAPE pathogens. Many in vitro and in vivo studies have established the effectiveness of phage therapy and endolysins in countering the dominance of ESKAPE pathogens. Antimicrobial peptides, photodynamic therapy with mesoporous nanoparticles, and some other strategies have also demonstrated their potency to kill ESKAPE bacteria. Despite their fruitfulness, many challenges and limitations are also associated with these approaches. This review aims to summarize the progress and advancement in countering the antimicrobial resistance in ESKAPE pathogens. This review also recommends conducting further research to better understand the technicalities of these strategies and to further refine them to compose these methods as promising options for antimicrobial therapy against ESKAPE pathogens.