Math 583 - Spring 1995

Mathematical Evolutionary Theory

Antibiotic Resistance Modeling Home Page

We deal with what occurs under selection to resistant strains if anti-biotic use is restricted, and what the effects would be of gene flow when new individuals carrying resistant strains move into a community which restricts antibiotic use to control resistant strains. The key questions here are (a) can we characterize on what time scale restriction of antibiotic use within a community will be effective in reducing health risks from resistant strains; (b) what would be the effect of "rotation strategies" in which several antibiotics were rotated in use in a local region to control bacterial pathogens; (c) how do the patterns of spatial movement of individuals between regions affect these results - e.g. how much gene flow will swamp out the benefits of restricting antibiotic use; and (d) is it possible to devise "spatially-varying rotation strategies" for antibiotic use that ameliorate the effects of gene flow.
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