Resistant infections now cause more than 750,000 deaths per year and are predicted to increase to 10 million deaths per year by 2050. It is known that treating patients with antibiotics is associated with the emergence of resistance – and worse outcomes for patients.
According to an international team led by Oxford University scientists, rapid bacterial evolution interacts with host immunity to shape both the rise, and fall, of resistance during infection.
The study, published in Nature Communications, highlights the need to understand better how our immune system works with antibiotics to suppress bacterial infections.
Co-author and Professor of Evolution and Microbiology at the University of Oxford, Craig MacLean, said: ‘Our study suggests that natural immunity can prevent resistance during infection and stop the transmission of resistant strains between patients. Exploiting this link could help us to develop new therapeutics to use against bacterial pathogens and to better use the antibiotics that we have now.’
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