The world is on the cusp of a ‘'post-antibiotic era'' as antibiotic resistance is on the rise and shows no signs of receding. With reduced susceptibility to antibiotics and the plummeting rate of antibiotic discovery, urgent worldwide measures are needed to rationalize antibiotic use in all countries.
Recently, the Department of Health, UK, set three strategic aims to slow the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance, including: improving knowledge and understanding of resistance, stimulating the development of new antibiotics, diagnostics and novel therapies, and conserving and optimising the effectiveness of existing antibiotics.
The latter is a growing area for reducing the development of antibiotic resistance, and it involves differential dosing regimens such as prolonged or continuous infusions of beta-lactam antibiotics.
My research is focused on optimising dosing regimens of antibiotics. Previously, we have been able to outpace bacterial mutation by replacing increasingly ineffective antibiotics with new agents. However, with the discovery of new antibiotics diminishing, optimising the administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics has become a necessity. Utilising the bench to bedside approach I am addressing clinical problems experienced on hospital wards in the laboratory.
S. Fawaz, S. Barton, L. Whitney, J. Swinden, and S. Nabhani-Gebara, "Stability of Meropenem After Reconstitution for Administration by Prolonged Infusion," Hosp. Pharm., pp. 1–7, 2018.
S. Fawaz, B. Dixon, S. Barton, A. Mohamed, and S. Nabhani-Gebara, "Suitability of amoxicillin–clavulanic acid for administration via prolonged infusion," Drug Des. Devel. Ther., vol. 14, pp. 103–109, 2020.
S. Fawaz, S. Barton, and S. Nabhani-Gebara, "Comparing clinical outcomes of piperacillin-tazobactam administration and dosage strategies in critically ill adult patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis," BMC Infect. Dis., vol. 20, no. 1, p. 430, Dec. 2020.
S. Fawaz, S. Barton, L. Whitney, and S. Nabhani-Gebara, "Differential antibiotic dosing in critical care: survey on nurses' knowledge, perceptions and experience," JAC-Antimicrobial Resist., vol. 2, no. 4, Oct. 2020.