Modelling within-host evolutionary dynamics of antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) arises due to two main reasons: pathogens are either intrinsically resistant to the antimicrobials, or they can develop new resistance mechanisms in a continuous fashion over time and space. The latter has been referred to as within-host evolution of antimicrobial resistance and studied in infectious disease settings such as Tuberculosis. During antibiotic treatment for example within-host evolutionary AMR dynamics plays an important role and presents significant challenges in terms of optimizing treatment dosage. The study by Djidjou-Demasse et al. contributes to addressing such challenges by developing a modelling approach that utilizes integro-differential equations to mathematically capture continuity in the space of the bacterial resistance levels.