A new modeling approach to the effect of antimicrobial agents on heterogeneous microbial populations

摘要

We develop a mathematical framework to model the dynamics of the effect of antimicrobial agents on heterogeneous microbial populations of distributed antimicrobial resistance. Our framework uses the concept of cumulants of a distribution. Simplifications that result in easily usable approximation tools are presented. A case study on experimental data exemplifies shortcomings of standard methods and the usefulness of the proposed approach. Suggestions for future development are made.