Quantification of persister formation of Escherichia coli leveraging electronic cell counting and semi-mechanistic pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling.

The developed pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model adequately characterized growth-kill behaviour of three E. coli isolates and unveiled strain-specific levofloxacin potencies and persister formation. The mimicked dosing regimens did not eradicate the resistant isolates and enhanced persister formation to a strain-specific extent.