a) Density of colonized and colonizable hosts with antibiotic resistant bacteria |
b) Population sizes of bacteria per host during colonization and infection |
c) Susceptibility to colonization of hosts, including age, gender, ethnicity, nutrition, illness-facilitated colonization |
d) Frequency of between-hosts interactions i.e. ,human-to-human or animal-human interactions |
e) Host natural and acquired immune response to colonizing organisms |
f) Ecological parameters of colonizable areas, including interaction with local microbiota and frequency and type of antibiotic-resistant commensals |
g) Migration and dispersal |
h) Antibiotic and biocide exposure and overall density of antibiotic use, type of antibiotics and mode of action, dosage and duration of therapy, adherence to therapy, selective antibiotic concentrations, antibiotic combinations |
i) Mode of transmission of resistant organisms from the environment to hosts |
j) Transmission rates between hosts (antibiotic treated and not-treated, infected, and not-infected) |
k) Time of contact between hosts |
l) Hygiene, infection control, sanitation |
m) Food, and drinking water contamination by resistant bacteria and host exposure |
n) Environmental contamination by resistant organisms, including soil, sewage and water |