Development of Bacterial Resistance to Chemotherapeutic Agents.

Abstract

Since the advent of the sulfonamides and introduction of bacterial chemotherapy, it has been realized that bacteria can easily acquire resistance to these drugs. This fact has come to stimulate an intensive investigation into the phenomenon of drug resistance. It has been shown that many bacteria acquire resistance to various chemotherapeutic drugs and antibiotics. H. Mizuno found that all the epidemic strains of Shigella in part of OSAKA-city,1953-1955, have shown highly increased resistance to the sulfonamides and that some microorganisms lost their sensitibity to antibiotics in respective degrees. E. Inoue isolated a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the blood of a tyhoid-like fever patient with skin ulcers. The strain produces a melanin-like pigment instead of pyocyanin showing resistance twice as strong as other strains against chloramphenicol.
The development of drug resistance seems not only due to the species of organisms, but also to chemical properties of drugs. Drugs which have relatively small molecules and drastic actions on bacterial cells, such as phenol or corrosive sublimate, seem more difficult to produce resistant strains than those of large molecules as sulfonamides or penicillin etc.