ABSTRACT
The prevalence of infectious diseases caused by multi-drugresistant microorganisms is relentlessly increasing worldwide as a result of the excessive use of antibiotics (Bell 2003). Recently, a dangerous new mutation (named NDM-1) (Park 2010) that makes some bacteria resistant to almost all antibiotics has been found in the United States in patients with urinary tract infections (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2010). Antibiotic resistance has led to a major research effort to find alternative antimicrobial approaches to which, it is hypothesized, microorganisms will not be easily able to develop resistance.
