Heteroresistance to beta-lactam antibiotics may often be a stage in the progression to antibiotic resistance.

Heteroresistance to beta-lactam antibiotics may often be a stage in the progression to antibiotic resistance.

Blog Article

Antibiotic resistance is a growing crisis that threatens many aspects of modern healthcare.Dogma is that resistance often develops due to acquisition of a resistance gene or mutation and that when this occurs, all the cells in the bacterial Glass Chiller population are phenotypically resistant.In contrast, heteroresistance (HR) is a form of antibiotic resistance where only a subset of cells within a bacterial population are resistant to a given drug.These resistant cells can rapidly replicate in the presence of the antibiotic and cause treatment failures.If and how HR and resistance are related is unclear.

Using carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), we provide evidence that HR to beta-lactams develops over years of antibiotic usage and that it is gradually supplanted by resistance.This suggests the possibility that HR may often develop before resistance and frequently be Wedge Changing Mat a stage in its progression, potentially representing a major shift in our understanding of the evolution of antibiotic resistance.