Colonizing opportunistic pathogens (COPs): The beasts in all of us

• Published in: PLoS pathogens Vol. 13; no. 8; p. e1006369
• Main Authors: Price, Lance B, Hungate, Bruce A, Koch, Benjamin J, Davis, Gregg S, Liu, Cindy M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01-08-2017; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Bacteria; Biology and Life Sciences; Disease prevention; Disease transmission; Drug resistance; E coli; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Ecosystems; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Genomics; Health aspects; Health care; Health surveillance; Humans; Infection; Infectious diseases; Medicine and Health Sciences; Opportunist infection; Opportunistic Infections - diagnosis; Opportunistic Infections - epidemiology; Opportunistic Infections - microbiology; Pathogenic microorganisms; Pathogens; Pearls; Public health; Risk factors; Salmonella; Staphylococcus infections; Streptococcus infections; Surveillance; United States; Washington DC; United States > US; Arizona
• ISSN: 1553-7374; 1553-7366; 1553-7374
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006369

About the Authors: Lance B. Price * E-mail: [e-mail] Affiliations Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington DC, United States of America, Division of Pathogen Genomics, Translational Genomics Research Institute, Flagstaff, Arizona, United States of America ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8746-5307 Bruce A. Hungate Affiliations Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, United States of America, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, United States of America ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7337-1887 Benjamin J. Koch Affiliations Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, United States of America, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, United States of America Gregg S. Davis Affiliation: Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington DC, United States of America ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7684-0426 Cindy M. Liu Affiliation: Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington DC, United States of AmericaCitation: Price LB, Hungate BA, Koch BJ, Davis GS, Liu CM (2017) Colonizing opportunistic pathogens (COPs): The beasts in all of us. [...]COPs lack predictable periods between colonization and infection, making their epidemiology cryptic. Because of this, COPs can cause insidious epidemics, where new clones transmit widely-even globally-among healthy populations before being recognized. [...]antibiotics can select for antibiotic-resistant COPs, in addition to commensals within the host microbiome, regardless of whether or not the specific COP was the intended target of the antibiotic treatment. COPs require new active and integrative surveillance programs Enhanced surveillance of COPs can enable public health agencies to identify and control emerging COP clones more quickly than is currently possible. Because of the insidious nature of COP epidemics, active surveillance programs that monitor both COPs circulating among asymptomatic carriers in the community and COPs causing clinical infections are crucial.