Background of the problemAbout one hundred years ago, infectious diseases were the leading cause of death in the world as there were no treatments available for diseases caused by bacteria such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, rheumatic fever and urinary tract infections. In 1929, when microbiologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the era of medicine began. Since then, numerous antibiotics have been discovered that attack bacteria in different ways. Most antibiotics, such as penicillin, attack the bacterial cell wall by inhibiting the synthesis of a cell wall component called peptidoglycan. Similarly, vancomycin attacks the bacterial cell wall but in a different way. Other classes of antimicrobials, such as quinolones, inhibit DNA replication; tetracyclines inhibit protein synthesis; and Rifamycin inhibits RNA synthesis in bacteria, thus preventing bacterial multiplication. Despite its miraculous function, antibiotic resistance can develop when an antibiotic is unable to control or kill bacterial growth. Bacteria can become resistant naturally, through genetic mutation, or by acquiring resistance from other bacteria. Antibiotics kill sensitive bacteria while promoting selective pressure that causes resistant bacterial strains to survive. This mechanism can be enhanced with the excessive use and abuse of antibiotics. Spontaneous mutations occur rarely as they are estimated to occur in one in a million to one in ten million cells. Bacteria can also develop resistance to antibiotics from other bacteria by receiving their genes through a simple mating process, called conjugation. Furthermore, resistance traits can also be transmitted by viruses. Regardless of how the bacterium acquires the resistant genes, they are… the focus of the paper… monitoring and research. Despite the critical need for new antibiotics, over the past 15 years major pharmaceuticals have been involved in antibiotic R&D as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lily and Sanofi have abandoned the antibiotic research market due to challenges in research , complicated regulation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and low returns on their investments. In the 1980s, thirty new antibiotics were approved by the FDA, and from 2010 to 2012, only one was approved, underscoring difficult regulation. The estimated average cost of developing a new antibiotic is $359 million, and it takes an average of 12 years for the drug to travel from the research lab to the patient. A strong need for new antibiotics has certainly come with the rapid increase in the number of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria or superbugs.