Study provides a transformational new insight into emergence of antimicrobial resistance

A research study led by the University of Oxford provides a transformational new insight into how antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emerges in patients with bacterial infections. The findings, published today in the journal Nature Communications, could help develop more effective interventions to prevent AMR infections developing in vulnerable patients.

The study’s findings challenge the traditional view that people are generally infected by a single genetic clone (or ‘strain’) of pathogenic bacteria, and that resistance to antibiotic treatment evolves because of natural…