A Whole-Cell Screen Identifies Small Bioactives That Synergize with Polymyxin and Exhibit Antimicrobial Activities against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria.

The threat of diminished antibiotic discovery has global health care in crisis. In the United States, it is estimated each year that over 2 million bacterial infections are resistant to first-line antibiotic treatments and cost in excess of 20 billion dollars. Many of these cases result from infection with the ESKAPE pathogens ( , , , , , and species), which are multidrug-resistant bacteria that often cause community- and hospital-acquired infections in both healthy and immunocompromised patients.