A kinetic model for horizontal transfer and bacterial antibiotic resistance

Abstract

This paper presents a mathematical model for bacterial growth, mutations, horizontal transfer and development of antibiotic resistance. The model is based on the so-called kinetic theory for active particles that is able to capture the main complexity features of the system. Bacterial and immune cells are viewed as active particles whose microscopic state is described by a scalar variable. Particles interact among them and the temporal evolution of the system is described by a generalized distribution function over the microscopic state. The model is derived and tested in a couple of case studies in order to confirm its ability to describe one of the most fundamental problems of modern medicine, namely bacterial resistance to antibiotics.