The World Health Organization has identified antimicrobial resistance as one of the most important health problems facing mankind. Increasing rates of infections with multiply-resistant bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus species, E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and various opportunistic pathogens, point towards an approaching era when most currently available antimicrobial agents will be obsolete. Efforts to find new drugs are failing, partly because conventional antimicrobials, all of which interfere with bacterial growth, carry built-in obsolescence. This presentation will review the mechanisms underlying the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance and outline some new strategies to overcome resistant bacteria in future.