Control of Biofilm Infections by Signal Manipulation

The medical miracle of antibiotics is being eroded by the emergence and spread of bacterial drug resistance. This is compounded by the fact that bacterial biofilms are believed to be a common cause of persistent infections, when because growing in biofilms, bacteria are protected from the host’s immune response and from antibiotics. In addition, biofilms may spawn systemic infections by sloughing of planktonic bacteria, leading to dissemination, bacteremia, sepsis, and death. The number of patients affected by and dying from what can be considered as a “biofilm disease” is higher than heart disease and cancer combined, making medical biofilms the biggest single disease that the healthcare system is facing today.
This book describes the molecular mechanisms of cell-to-cell communication among bacterial cells in a biofilm, the development of antibiofilm inhibitors, like quorum-sensing inhibitors, and the use of biofilm inhibitors to prevent and treat bacterial infections in humans and other animals.