Beta-Lactamase Production in Anaerobic Bacteria (Report‪)‬

Introduction The involvement of anaerobes in human diseases and their increasing resistance to antibiotics especially betalactam drugs is well recognized. Of the agents used in therapy, beta-lactam drugs play an important role in the treatment of anaerobic infections. Beta-lactamase enzymes first described by Abraham and Chain in 1940 [1] are produced by many organisms and confer resistance to [beta]-lactam antibiotics; penicillins, cephalosporins, cephamycins and carbapenems [2, 3]. It was believed that betalactamase enzyme was originally produced by soil bacteria to protect them against [beta]-lactams produced by other soil organisms [4]. It was later that it became recognized that the presence of these enzymes at the site of infection could interfere with antibiotic therapy because of the resistance conferred on the organisms to these antimicrobial agents [5]. The enzymes are also found in many anaerobes of low virulence which protects them as well as other bacteria in their vicinity from [beta]-lactam drugs [5,6]. Examples include the extended-spectrum [beta]-lactamase (ESBL) ACI-1 from the Gram negative anaerobic cocci Acidaminococcus fermentans [7], cephalosporinase produced by Bacteroides vulgatus, B. diastosonis, B. fragilis, B. uniformis, Prevotella intermedia [8], as well as the penicillinase and oxacillinase found in F. nucleatum [9] and Clostridium species [10]. The presence of these [beta]-lactamases is demonstrated by tests as simple as the nitrocefin to complex molecular biology-based tests that detect the presence of genes encoding for the resistance. Beta- lactamase resistance occurs as a result of indiscriminate use and overdose of antibiotics. The presence of these enzymes at the site of infection is associated with therapeutic failures and recurrent infections such as otitis media, tonsillitis sinusitis dental/lung abscess, which result in a longer duration of hospitalization [11]. This review discussed the production, significance of [beta]-lactamase resistance and the genes responsible for resistance to [beta]-lactam antibiotics in anaerobic bacteria.