Mycobacterium abscessus: a new antibiotic nightmare

The intrinsic and acquired resistance of <it>Mycobacterium abscessus</it> to commonly used antibiotics limits the chemotherapeutic options for infections caused by these mycobacteria. Intrinsic resistance is attributed to a combination of the permeability barrier of the complex multilayer cell envelope, drug export systems, antibiotic targets with low affinity and enzymes that neutralize antibiotics in the cytoplasm. To date, acquired resistance has only been observed for aminoglycosides and macrolides, which is conferred by mutations affecting the genes encoding the antibiotic targets (<it>rrs</it> and <it>rrl</it>, respectively). Here we summarize previous and recent…