**Meet the editor**

Dr. Ranjith Kumavath, MSc, PhD, FASB, was born in 1979 to a lovely Rajput Indian couple and grew up in south India. He received his PhD degree from the University of Hyderabad. Before joining CUK in 2011, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Hyderabad, Singapore and the USA. He has been awarded as Young Scientist by DST, Govt. of

India; BioAsia Young Scientist by govt. of Andhra Pradesh; Fellow of the Society of Applied Biotechnology by SAB; Fellow of Young Investigator by India Biosciences and Mahatma Gandhi Gold Medal Award 2014; and APJ Abdul Kalam Award by GEPRA, India. Currently, he is operating four major research projects funded by UGC-BSR, SERB-DST and SERB, Govt. of India. He has published 2 books, 6 chapters and 23 research publications in leading international journals, and he has made 18 national and 16 international presentations. He has contributed in discovery of four novel enzymes to IUBMB. He has collaborations with UoH, IIOAB, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore and San Diego State University, USA. His main research interest areas are cancer genomics, microbial genetics and metagenomics, human infective diseases and computational drug designing. His research group is being dedicated towards developing anti-cancer agents from microbial recourses for target-based drug discovery.

## Contents

#### **Preface XI**


## Preface

To cure infectious diseases, many researchers discovered antibacterial agents that are con‐ sidered as probably the most promising chemotherapeutic agents. The pathogenic microbes cause diseases and infections when they get into the body and begin to reproduce and crowd out healthy bacteria and/or to grow into tissues that are normally sterile. Keeping in mind the resistance phenomenon developing against antibacterial agents, new drugs are fre‐ quently entering into the market along with the existing drugs. The antibacterial agents can be discussed in five major classes, i.e. classification based on the type of action, source, spec‐ trum of activity, chemical structure and function.

Resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is an urgent problem of humanity, which leads us to the lack of therapy for serious bacterial infections. Development of new antibiotics has almost ceased in the last decades—even when a new antibiotic is launched, very soon the resistance of bacteria appears. There is a long list of applications where antimicrobial protection is re‐ quested to achieve effective treatment. The loss of effective antibiotic treatments will not on‐ ly cripple the ability to fight routine infectious diseases but will also undermine treatment of infectious complications in patients with other diseases. For example, sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are among the most common infections worldwide predominantly in the de‐ veloping/underdeveloped countries, and also endodontic treatment, for a multispecies bac‐ terial and fungal infection that is present in a place that is inaccessible to the host immune system, offers physical protection from applied topical agents.

However, they will be irrigating various deficits in performance, which is why many clini‐ cians recommended alternative approaches to using antimicrobial substances. Industrial tex‐ tiles exposed as awnings, screens, tents; upholstery used in large public areas such as hospitals, hotels and stations; fabrics for transports; protective clothing and personal protec‐ tive equipment; bed sheets and blankets; textiles left wet between processing steps; intimate apparel, underwear, socks and sportswear, disinfection of air and water for white rooms, hospitals and operating theatres, food and pharma industries, water depuration, drinkable water supplying and air conditioning systems. The majority of bioagents demonstrate on antibiotics for treatment of a wide range of diseases in human sectors. However, the misuse and mishandling of drugs lead to microbial, particularly bacterial, resistance as well as re‐ sult in the difficulty of treating microbial diseases. Hence, the proposed book will give more precise information on novel antibacterial compound(s).

**Dr. Ranjith N. Kumavath, MSc, PhD, FSAB**

Sr. Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator Department of Genomic Science School of Biological Sciences Central University of Kerala, India
