Dissecting the evolutionary stealth of our flora against antibiotics

It is one thing to have an organism develop resistance to an agent to which it is exposed. But organisms are even 'smarter' as they stealthily evade our surveillance as subtle but relevant resistance genes sneak into our 'normal flora'. Transmissible quinolone resistance and 'creeping' nalR and cipR mechanisms of moderate, but incremental, marches toward resistance are becoming common in the commensal flora of human populations under antibiotic pressure.