Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 May 26;2(3):178-194.
doi: 10.1016/j.imj.2023.05.003. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Infections and novel approaches to treatment "Knowing the enemy" the threat of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and exploring novel approaches to treatment

Nikhil Sathe  1   2 , Peter Beech  2 , Larry Croft  2 , Cenk Suphioglu  3 , Arnab Kapat  1 , Eugene Athan  4
Affiliations
Review

Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Infections and novel approaches to treatment "Knowing the enemy" the threat of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and exploring novel approaches to treatment

Nikhil Sathe et al. Infect Med (Beijing). .

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an aerobic Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium with a comparatively large genome and an impressive genetic capability allowing it to grow in a variety of environments and tolerate a wide range of physical conditions. This biological flexibility enables the P. aeruginosa to cause a broad range of infections in patients with serious underlying medical conditions, and to be a principal cause of health care associated infection worldwide. The clinical manifestations of P. aeruginosa include mostly health care associated infections and community-acquired infections. P. aeruginosa possesses an array of virulence factors that counteract host defence mechanisms. It can directly damage host tissue while utilizing high levels of intrinsic and acquired antimicrobial resistance mechanisms to counter most classes of antibiotics. P. aeruginosa co-regulates multiple resistance mechanisms by perpetually moving targets poses a significant therapeutic challenge. Thus, there is an urgent need for novel approaches in the development of anti-Pseudomonas agents. Here we review the principal infections caused by P. aeruginosa and we discuss novel therapeutic options to tackle antibiotic resistance and treatment of P. aeruginosa infections that may be further developed for clinical practice.

Keywords: Antibiotics; Bacteriophages; Immunotherapy; Infections; Novel Approaches; Pseudomonas; Resistance; Vaccines.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Image, graphical abstract
Graphical abstract
Fig 1
Fig. 1
Circular view of P. aeruginosa isolate EA31, showing from outer to inner rings: Position on contig in Mb, contigs ordered largest to smallest, forward CDS (green), reverse CDS (purple), noncoding genes (light blue), antimicrobial resistance genes (red), virulence factors (orange), transporters (dark blue), GC content, GC skew. Visualization, annotation and assembly by PATRIC 3.6.8.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Wu W., Jin Y., Bai F., et al. In: Molecular Medical Microbiology. 2nd ed. Tang T.W., Sussman M., Liu D., Poxton I., Schwartzman J., editors. Academic Press; Cambridge, MA, USA: 2015. Chapter 41—pseudomonas aeruginosa; pp. 753–767. - DOI
    1. El-Fouly M.Z., Sharaf A.M., Shahin A.A.M, et al. Biosynthesis of pyocyanin pigment by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Radiat. Res. Appl. Sci. 2015;8(1):36–48. doi: 10.1016/j.jrras.2014.10.007. - DOI
    1. Brady M.T., Leber A. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Elsevier; 2018. Less Commonly Encountered Nonenteric Gram-Negative bacilli; pp. 855–859. - DOI
    1. Schmidt K.D., Tümmler B. Römling. Comparative genome mapping of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO with P. aeruginosa C, which belongs to a major clone in cystic fibrosis patients and aquatic habitats. J. Bacteriol. 1996;178(1):85–93. doi: 10.1128/jb.178.1.85-93.1996. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stover C.K., Pham X.Q., Erwin A.L., et al. Complete genome sequence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, an opportunistic pathogen. Nature. 2000;406(6799):959–964. doi: 10.1038/35023079. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources