title: Bygiene: The New Paradigm of Bidirectional Hygiene.
abstract: The pervasive dogma surrounding the evolution of virulence - -namely, that a pathogen's virulence decreases over time to prevent threatening its host -- is an archaic assertion that is more appropriately cast as an optimization of virulence cost and benefit. However, the prevailing attitudes underlying practices of medical hygiene and sanitization remain entrenched in these passé ideas. This is true despite the emergence of evidence linking those practices to mounting virulence and antimicrobial resistance in the hospital. It is, therefore, our position that just as the microbe has sought an optimized balance in virulence, so should we seek such an optimized balance in vigilance, complementing warfare with restoration. We call this approach "bygiene," or bidirectional hygiene.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Gabriel A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Al-Ghalith
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota ; Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Knights
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene
keywords: antibiotics; drug resistance; ecology; microbiome; pathogenicity; virulence