Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Predictions of the Pharmaco- and Population Dynamics of Heteroresistance.

ABSTRACT: Antibiotics are considered one of the most important contributions to clinical medicine in the last 100 years. Due to the use and overuse of these drugs, there have been increasing frequencies of infections with resistant pathogens. One form of resistance, heteroresistance, is particularly problematic; pathogens appear sensitive to a drug by common susceptibility tests. However, upon exposure to the antibiotic, resistance rapidly ascends, and treatment fails. To quantitatively explore the processes contributing to the emergence and ascent of resistance during treatment and the waning of resistance following cessation of treatment, we develop two distinct mathematical and computer-simulations models of heteroresistance. In our analysis of the properties of these models, we consider the fact

SUBMITTER: Levin BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10542493 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature