[Epidemiological mechanism for the formation of drug-resistant bacterial populations]

The concept on the epidemiological mechanism of formation of drug-resistant bacterial populations was substantiated. Investigations showed the epidemiological mechanism of formation of the drug-resistant populations of staphylococci in the purulent-inflammatory foci to be represented in 81.4 per cent of the patients by superinfection with resistant microbes. The latter group of the patients could be divided into two subgroups: in one of the subgroups (34.9 per cent) a reduction of sensitivity in the initial staphylococci was seen in the presence of donor bacteria which later either remained in the focus or were eliminated. In this case it could be supposed that there occurred a preliminary infection with the resistant staphylococci or with the transducing bacteriophages.