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. 2022 Jun 21;10(7):1259.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10071259.

The Current Knowledge on the Pathogenesis of Tissue and Medical Device-Related Biofilm Infections

Enea Gino Di Domenico  1 , Alessandra Oliva  2 , María Guembe  3   4
Affiliations

The Current Knowledge on the Pathogenesis of Tissue and Medical Device-Related Biofilm Infections

Enea Gino Di Domenico et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Biofilm is the trigger for the majority of infections caused by the ability of microorganisms to adhere to tissues and medical devices. Microbial cells embedded in the biofilm matrix are highly tolerant to antimicrobials and escape the host immune system. Thus, the refractory nature of biofilm-related infections (BRIs) still represents a great challenge for physicians and is a serious health threat worldwide. Despite its importance, the microbiological diagnosis of a BRI is still difficult and not routinely assessed in clinical microbiology. Moreover, biofilm bacteria are up to 100-1000 times less susceptible to antibiotics than their planktonic counterpart. Consequently, conventional antibiograms might not be representative of the bacterial drug susceptibility in vivo. The timely recognition of a BRI is a crucial step to directing the most appropriate biofilm-targeted antimicrobial strategy.

Keywords: biofilm; clinical impact; devices; pathogenesis; tissues.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Biofilm and chronic infections in tissue [12,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Types of device-related infections.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Biofilm and device-related infections [55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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