title: Overview of tigecycline and its role in the era of antibiotic resistance.
abstract: The increasing antimicrobial resistance found in the many clinically important species of bacteria that commonly cause serious and life-threatening diseases presents a difficult challenge for clinicians, especially when an appropriate initial therapy must be chosen. New antibiotics are urgently needed to address the formidable issues associated with infections caused by vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. The need for new antibiotics that effectively resist antimicrobial mechanisms of resistance has become paramount. Tigecycline is a new antimicrobial agent; it is the first in a new class of antibiotics, the glycylcyclines, with properties conferring the ability to overcome many common resistance mechanisms, thus allowing the use of tigecycline for many serious and life-threatening infections for which the use of other antibiotics is no longer appropriate. Tigecycline is a novel expanded spectrum antibiotic that appears poised to meet the latest bacterial challenges facing clinicians, including the serious and life-threatening infections caused by highly resistant bacteria. Tigecycline, moreover, appears to hold promise as a new, versatile antibiotic that can be chosen for empirical therapy, even as a single agent, for initial therapy of many clinically important infections.
authors.affiliation: University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. ffrossi@attglobal.net
authors.forename: Flávia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Andreazzi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008911:Minocycline / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000078304:Tigecycline
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000078304:Tigecycline; D008911:Minocycline