Besides plants and animals, the Fungi kingdom describes several species characterized by various forms and applications. They can be found in all habitats and play an essential role in the excellent functioning of the ecosystem, for example, as decomposers of plant material for the cycling of carbon and nutrients or as symbionts of plants. Furthermore, fungi have been used in many sectors for centuries, from producing food, beverages, and medications. Recently, they have gained significant recognition for protecting the environment, agriculture, and several industrial applications. The current article intends to review the beneficial roles of fungi used for a vast range of applications, such as the production of several enzymes and pigments, applications regarding food and pharmaceutical industries, the environment, and research domains, as well as the negative impacts of fungi (secondary metabolites production, etiological agents of diseases in plants, animals, and humans, as well as deteriogenic agents).

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest challenges for the clinical sector and industry, environment and societal development. One of the most important pathogens responsible for severe nosocomial infections is Acinetobacter baumannii, a Gram-negative bacterium from the Moraxellaceae family, due to its various resistance mechanisms, such as the β-lactamases production, efflux pumps, decreased membrane permeability and altered target site of the antibiotic. The enormous adaptive capacity of A. baumannii and the acquisition and transfer of antibiotic resistance determinants contribute to the ineffectiveness of most current therapeutic strategies, including last-line or combined antibiotic therapy. In this review, we will present an update of the antibiotic resistance profiles and underlying mechanisms in A. baumannii and the current progress in developing innovative strategies for combating multidrug-resistant A. baumannii (MDRAB) infections.

The imbalance of microbial composition and diversity in favor of pathogenic microorganisms combined with a loss of beneficial gut microbiota taxa results from factors such as age, diet, antimicrobial administration for different infections, other underlying medical conditions, etc. Probiotics are known for their capacity to improve health by stimulating the indigenous gut microbiota, enhancing host immunity resistance to infection, helping digestion, and carrying out various other functions. Concurrently, the metabolites produced by these microorganisms, termed postbiotics, which include compounds like bacteriocins, lactic acid, and hydrogen peroxide, contribute to inhibiting a wide range of pathogenic bacteria. This review presents an update on using probiotics in managing and treating various human diseases, including complications that may emerge during or after a COVID-19 infection.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant global threat to both public health and the environment. The emergence and expansion of AMR is sustained by the enormous diversity and mobility of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). Different mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), including conjugation, transduction, and transformation, have facilitated the accumulation and dissemination of ARGs in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. This has resulted in the development of multidrug resistance in some bacteria. The most clinically significant ARGs are usually located on different mobile genetic elements (MGEs) that can move intracellularly (between the bacterial chromosome and plasmids) or intercellularly (within the same species or between different species or genera). Resistance plasmids play a central role both in HGT and as support elements for other MGEs, in which ARGs are assembled by transposition and recombination mechanisms. Considering the crucial role of MGEs in the acquisition and transmission of ARGs, a potential strategy to control AMR is to eliminate MGEs. This review discusses current progress on the development of chemical and biological approaches for the elimination of ARG carriers.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), previously known as nosocomial infections, represent a significant threat to healthcare systems worldwide, prolonging patient hospital stays and the duration of antimicrobial therapy. One of the most serious consequences of HAIs is the increase in the rate of antibiotic resistance (AR) generated by the prolonged, frequent, and sometimes incorrect use of antibiotics, which leads to the selection of resistant bacteria, making treatment difficult and expensive, with direct consequences for the safety of patients and healthcare personnel. Therefore, timely and accurate diagnosis of HAIs is mandatory to develop appropriate infection prevention and control practices (IPC) and new therapeutic strategies. This review aimed to present the prevalence, risk factors, current diagnosis, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning approaches, future perspectives in combating HAIs causative bacteria (phage therapy, microbiome-based interventions, and vaccination), and HAIs surveillance strategies. Also, we discussed the latest findings regarding the relationships of AR with climate change and environmental pollution in the context of the One Health approach. Phage therapy is an emerging option that can offer an alternative to ineffective antibiotic treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing HAIs. Clinical trials dealing with vaccine development for resistant bacteria have yielded conflicting results. Two promising strategies, fecal microbiota transplantation and probiotic therapy, proved highly effective against recurrent Clostridium difficile infections and have been shown to reduce HAI incidence in hospitalized patients undergoing antibiotic therapy. Artificial intelligence and machine learning systems offer promising predictive capabilities in processing large volumes of clinical, microbiological, and patient data but require robust data integration. Our paper argues that HAIs are still a global challenge, requiring stringent IPC policies, computer vision, and AI-powered tools. Despite promising avenues like integrated One Health approaches, optimized phage therapy, microbiome-based interventions, and targeted vaccine development, several knowledge gaps in clinical efficacy, standardization, and pathogen complexity remain to be answered.

Since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1929 as a therapeutic agent against staphylococci, β-lactam antibiotics (BLAs) remained the most successful antibiotic classes against the majority of bacterial strains, reaching a percentage of 65% of all medical prescriptions. Unfortunately, the emergence and diversification of β-lactamases pose indefinite health issues, limiting the clinical effectiveness of all current BLAs. One solution is to develop β-lactamase inhibitors (BLIs) capable of restoring the activity of β-lactam drugs. In this review, we will briefly present the older and new BLAs classes, their mechanisms of action, and an update of the BLIs capable of restoring the activity of β-lactam drugs against ESKAPE (Enterococcus spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.) pathogens. Subsequently, we will discuss several promising alternative approaches such as bacteriophages, antimicrobial peptides, nanoparticles, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) cas technology, or vaccination developed to limit antimicrobial resistance in this endless fight against Gram-negative pathogens.