Bacterial communication via quorum sensing (QS) molecules, as well as toxin-antitoxin (TA) gene modules located on bacterial chromosomes are well-studied mechanisms. Escherichia coli mazEF is a stress-induced TA system mediating cell death requiring a QS extracellular death factor (EDF), the pentapeptide NNWNN. MazF is an endoribonuclease specific for ACA sites. During adverse conditions, the activated MazF generates a stress induced translation machinery, composed of MazF-processed mRNAs and selective ribosomes that specifically translate these processed mRNAs.

A 67-year-old female with a history of arterial hypertension and previous hysterectomy, was recovered, in July 2019, for moderately-severe acute biliary pancreatitis with evidence of stones in gallbladder and bile duct and pancreatic necrosis on imaging (Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography. A contrast enhanced CT, a week after the admission, showed necrotic areas in the pancreas and a large peripancreatic fluid collection (60 mm long) with air pockets within (acute necrotic collection, with signs of infection. Since she was haemodynamically stable and there was no evidence of organ failure, according to “step-up approach”, she was managed medically with antibiotics (piperacillin-tazobactam + metronidazole) and fluids.

Multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria, which are resistant to more than one antibiotic, present an enormous challenge for medical communities and organizations worldwide. For example, Acinetobacter baumannii is a highly contagious MDR gram-negative bacterium (GNB) that inhabits hospitals and causes 64% of urinary tract infections associated with the use of catheters. Alexopoulou et al. found that there were more healthcare-associated infections caused by GNB than Gram-positive Cocci (GPC) bacte

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) due to Escherichia coli is the most common bacterial infection. Fluoroquinolones are commonly used for the treatment of UTI because isolated microorganisms are frequently resistant to aminopenicillins and trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole and fluoroquinolones are given orally [1].

Viable but nonculturable (VBNC) bacteria are deeply dormant phenotypic variants that are characterized by a loss of culturability in conventional culture media, yet retain some viability markers. Thus, low metabolic activity, nutrient uptake, membrane integrity, and respiration are all detectable in these dormant cells. In 1982, the VBNC state was first described for Escherichia coli and Vibrio cholerae. Shortly afterwards, VBNC Salmonella enteriditis were found to regain culturability