The prevention of antibiotic resistance during treatment

Summary

Prevention of emergence of antibiotic resistance during treatment is an important goal when prescribing antimicrobials. Antibiotic resistant bacteria can emerge in three main ways—by acquisition of new genes via transposons or horizontal gene transfer, by selection of resistant variants and by selection of naturally resistant strains. In order to minimize emergence of antibiotic resistance during therapy it is important to try and avoid antibiotics which encourage the transfer of resistance genes, to avoid selection of resistant variants from susceptible pathogens and to avoid ablation of antibiotic susceptible normal flora. However, implementing these objectives is not always easy. This paper discusses possible ways of limiting the emergence of resistant bacteria during treatment. It does not consider how to prevent the spread of these strains from person to person. The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria depends, upon the selection of antibiotic-resistant strains and spread of these strains from person to person. Prevention therefore consists of two parts—the prevention of acquisition of resistance/selection of antibiotic-resistant variants and interrupting the mechanisms by which person-to-person spread can occur. This paper considers only the first of these two influences on prevalence of resistance.