"Tolerance” of misused terminology? : enforcing standardized phenotypic definitions

The recent paper by Haaber and colleagues entitled “Reversible Antibiotic Tolerance Induced in Staphylococcus aureus by Concurrent Drug Exposure” (1) revealed a possible alternative mechanism by which pathogens become less susceptible to standard therapy by screening for inducible antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus USA300 strain FP3757. We agree with the sentiments expressed by Bean and Wigmore (2) about the timeliness of this article and the need to examine antibiotic combinations, especially with increasing multidrug-resistant pathogens. Furthermore, this article highlighted some of the potential pitfalls of combination therapy and stressed the need for further research in this area. However, we have some concerns regarding the terminology and methods used in this study.