Triclosan: a widely used biocide and its link to antibiotics

Triclosan is the active ingredient in a multitude of health care and consum er products with germicidal properties, which have flooded the market in re cent years in response to the public's fear of communicable bacteria. Altho ugh originally thought to kill bacteria by attacking multiple cellular targ ets, triclosan was recently shown to target a specific bacterial fatty acid biosynthetic enzyme, enoyl-[acyl-carrier protein] reductase, in Gram-negat ive and Gram-positive bacteria, as well as in the Mycobacteria. Triclosan r esistance mechanisms include target mutations, increased target expression, active efflux from the cell, and enzymatic inactivation/degradation. These are the same types of mechanisms involved in antibiotic resistance and som e of them account for the observed cross-resistance with antibiotics in lab oratory isolates. Therefore, there is a link between triclosan and antibiot ics, and the widespread use of triclosan-containing antiseptics and disinfe ctants may indeed aid in development of microbial resistance, in particular cross-resistance to antibiotics. (C) 2001 Federation of European Microbiol ogical Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.