Towards a unified approach in managing resistance to vaccines, drugs, and pesticides
Andrei Alyokhin, Benjamin M. Rosenthal, Donald C. Weber, Mitchell B. Baker
Abstract
Everywhere, pests and pathogens evolve resistance to our control efforts, impairing human health and welfare. Developing sustainable solutions to this problem requires working with evolved immune and ecological systems, rather than against these evolutionary forces. We advocate a transdisciplinary approach to resistance based on an evolutionary foundation informed by the concepts of integrated pest management and One Health. Diverse, multimodal management approaches create a more challenging environment for the evolution of resistance. Given our permanent evolutionary and ecological relationships with pests and pathogens, responses to most biological threats to health and agriculture should seek sustainable harm reduction rather than eradication.