title: History of antimicrobial drug discovery: Major classes and health impact.
abstract: The introduction of antibiotics into clinical practice revolutionized the treatment and management of infectious diseases. Before the introduction of antibiotics, these diseases were the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in human populations. This review presents a brief history of discovery of the main antimicrobial classes (arsphenamines, β-lactams, sulphonamides, polypeptides, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, amphenicols, lipopeptides, macrolides, oxazolidinones, glycopeptides, streptogramins, ansamycins, quinolones, and lincosamides) that have changed the landscape of contemporary medicine. Given within a historical timeline context, the review discusses how the introduction of certain antimicrobial classes affected the morbidity and mortality rates due to bacterial infectious diseases in human populations. Problems of resistance to antibiotics of different classes are also extensively discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom. Electronic address: rustam.aminov@abdn.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Rustam
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aminov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000145:classification* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: Antimicrobial drug discovery; History