Predicting antibiotic resistance

• Published in: Nature reviews. Microbiology Vol. 5; no. 12; pp. 958 - 965
• Main Authors: Martínez, José L, Baquero, Fernando, Andersson, Dan I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01-12-2007
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial agents; Bacteria; Bacteria - drug effects; Bacteria - genetics; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial infections; Bacterial Infections - drug therapy; Bacterial Infections - microbiology; Care and treatment; Causes of; Complications and side effects; Control; Dosage and administration; Drug resistance; Drug resistance in microorganisms; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial - genetics; Evolution; Forecasting - methods; Gene amplification; Genomes; Humans; MEDICIN; MEDICINE; Microorganisms; Mutation; Pathogens; Probability; Quantitative genetics; United States
• ISSN: 1740-1526; 1740-1534; 1740-1534
• DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro1796

The treatment of bacterial infections is increasingly complicated because microorganisms can develop resistance to antimicrobial agents. This article discusses the information that is required to predict when antibiotic resistance is likely to emerge in a bacterial population. Indeed, the development of the conceptual and methodological tools required for this type of prediction represents an important goal for microbiological research. To this end, we propose the establishment of methodological guidelines that will allow researchers to predict the emergence of resistance to a new antibiotic before its clinical introduction.