May 27, 2010
The Question
How does resistance emerge and spread through a structured population?
What we found
A population is structured into a set of microbial resistance sources and sinks. Sources create a spillover effect and resistance in nearby populations is relatively high. The findings suggest that neighboring populations should coordinate and use different antimicrobial drugs.
Why it matters
Frequency of resistant infections has increased and spread from host to host of resistant strains is the major contributor. At the same time, the approval rate of new antimicrobial drugs has reduced. These two factors have led to treatment failure.
