Table 1.

Options for reactive resistance management aimed at reducing the prevalence or transmission of AMR in bacterial populations

Strategy	Selective action	Vehicle	Driver	Evidential support
Infection prevention and preventative treatment (Gram‐positive MDR microbes)	Screening of resistant lineages; topical treatment	Antibacterials; disinfectants; infection control	None required	Clinical data
Plasmid displacement	Toxin–antitoxin‐based removal of plasmid groups	Engineered plasmid (“displacement vectors”)	Conjugation or antibiotic selection	In vitro in vitro in vivo
Conjugation‐dependent phage	Pilus‐dependent infection of plasmid carrying cells	Naturally occurring bacteriophage (PRD1)	Lytic infection	In vitro
Selective mortality using phagemids	CRISPR‐Cas9 targeting of resistance genes	Engineered bacteriophage (“phagemids”)	Lytic infection	In vitro

Selective action describes the basis on which antibiotic‐resistant lineages are targeted in preference to susceptible bacteria. Vehicle refers to the biological or pharmaceutical agent used to impose mortality or displacement. Driver refers to the mechanism used to ensure spread of vehicle within a bacterial population.