[Antimicrobial resistance and bacterial virulence].

Overview

Hospitals are places with high selective pressure by antimicrobial agents. For this reason, bacteria producing nosocomial infections need to be not only virulent, but also resistant to antimicrobial agents. In the present review we analyse the effect of the acquisition of an antibiotic resistance phenotype in bacterial fitness and virulence. Besides that, we review as well the existence of common mechanisms for resistance to antimicrobial agents and bacterial virulence. In this line, we highlight the role of multidrug efflux pumps on bacterial virulence. Since opportunistic pathogens frequently have an environmental origin, we also discuss the role of natural ecosystems, as well as their potential contamination, on the selection of bacteria resistant to antimicrobial agents.