Abstract

Egbujor Melford C.*, Nwobodo David C., Egwuatu Pius I., Abu Ifeanyichukwu P., Ezeagu Casmir U.

ABSTRACT

Sulphonamide drugs were the first antimicrobial agents to be used systematically which have also been widely utilized as antimalarial, anticancer, antiretroviral, diuretic, antihypertensive agents to mention but a few. Sulphonamide was first isolated from coal tar in 1935 for the treatment of bacterial infections due to its selective toxicity against bacterium cell thereby paving the way for the antibiotic revolution in medicine. Over the years, sulphonamide drugs lost its preference as the first line drug of choice in the treatment of bacterial infections because of the increased resistance exhibited by certain bacteria especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The unique resistance of Pseudomonas aerusginosa against sulphonamide is quite worrisome due to the fact that this bacterium being one of the scariest bacteria in the world is responsible for several serious infections that were erstwhile curable with inexpensive sulphonamide drugs. Several isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa have considerable defense against reliable antibiotics and their concomitant infections are difficult to treat because of complex enzymic and mutational mechanisms of resistance exhibited by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This review observed and proposed the potential ways of tackling the recalcitrance of Pseudomonas aeroginosa to sulfonamide though structural modifications and derivatization.