Dynamics of the spread of resistant infectious agents

Didier Guillemot is an epidemiologist, methodologist and expert in the epidemiology of antibiotic resistance, particularly the dynamics of its transmission in hospital and community settings. His seminar, however, focused on another aspect of resistance, illustrating the complexity of the "ménage à trois" of antibiotics, vaccines and pathogens. In species subjected to vaccination, substitutions occur under the selective pressure of the state of immunity created, with the appearance of new pathogenic serotypes not covered by vaccination. Furthermore, it seems that for certain pathogenic species, resistance is a factor in the loss of host fitness. As a result, resistance control and the use of vaccines could in future lead to the emergence of antibiotic-sensitive pathogens with maximum host fitness and serotypes not covered by the relevant vaccines. That's the last straw!