Turning pathogens against each other to prevent drug resistance

Limiting a much-needed resource could pit pathogens against one another and prevent the emergence of drug resistance. New research demonstrates that harnessing competition among pathogens inside a patient could extend the life of existing drugs where resistance is already present and prevent resistance to new drugs from emerging. A paper describing this ecological approach to drug resistance appears the week of Dec. 11 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.