Antibiotic tolerance and persistence in clinical isolates of <i>Escherichia coli</i> evaluated by high-resolution time-kill assays.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria showing tolerance to antibiotic killing are characterized by a slower kill rate compared with other isolates from the same species. Antibiotic persistence is defined by a subpopulation of bacteria showing a reduced kill rate when an isolate is exposed to a bactericidal antibiotic. Both are best studied using time-kill experiments and have been associated with treatment failure and the development of antibiotic resistance. Despite their potential clinical importance, quantitative data for the variation in antibiotic tolerance and persistence are lacking. Here, we performed time-kill experiments using 15 clinical E. coli isolates with or without acquired TEM-1 or OXA-1 β-lactamases and E. coli ATCC25922 against four antibiotics (piperacillin-tazobactam, cefotaxime, mer

SUBMITTER: Alexandersen NR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12403604 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature