A model of drug resistance with infection by health care workers

Antibiotic resistant organisms (ARO) pose an increasing serious threat in hospitals. One of the most life threatening ARO is methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In this paper, we introduced a new mathematical model which focuses on the evolution of two bacterial strains, drug-resistant and non-drug resistant, residing within the population of patients and health care workers in a hospital. The model predicts that as soon as drug is administered, the average load of the non-resistant bacteria will decrease and eventually (after 6 weeks of the model's simulation) reach a very low level. However, the average load of drug-resistant bacteria will initially decrease, after treatment, but will later bounce back and remain at a high level. This level can be made lower if larger amount of drug is given or if the contact between health care workers and patients is reduced.