Modeling antibiotic resistance in hospitals: The impact of minimizing treatment duration

[摘要] Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens are a global public health problem. Numerous individual- and population-level factors contribute to the emergence and spread of these pathogens. An individual-based model (IBM), formulated as a system of stochastically determined events, was developed to describe the complexities of the transmission dynamics of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. To simplify the interpretation and application of the model's conclusions, a corresponding deterministic model was created, which describes the average behavior of the IBM over a large number of simulations. The integration of these two model systems provides a quantitative analysis of the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and demonstrates that early initiation of treatment and minimization of its duration mitigates antibiotic resistance epidemics in hospitals. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[发布日期] 2007-12-07

[关键词] antibiotic-resistant bacteria;individual-based model;differential equation model;basic reproduction number