Impact of vaccines on antimicrobial resistance

Abstract

Drivers of antimicrobial resistance: Antibiotic use drives the development and spread of resistant bacterial infections. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a prolific global issue, due to significant increases in antibiotic use in humans, livestock and agriculture, inappropriate use (under-dosing and overprescribing), and misuse of antibiotics (for viral infections where they are ineffective). Fewer new antibiotics are being developed. The problem of AMR: AMR is now considered a key threat to global health, leading to more mortality and increased healthcare costs threatening future conduct of routine medical procedures. Traditional approaches to address AMR include antibiotic stewardship, better hygiene/infection control, promoting antibiotic research and development, and restricting use for agricultural purposes. Vaccines as a tool to reduce AMR: While antibiotic development is declining, vaccine technology is growing. This review shows how vaccines can decrease AMR by preventing bacterial and viral infections, thereby reducing the use/misuse of antibiotics, and by preventing antibiotic-resistant infections. Vaccines are less likely to induce resistance. Some future uses and developments of vaccines are also discussed. Conclusions: Vaccines, along with other approaches, can help reduce AMR by preventing (resistant) infections and reducing antibiotic use. Industry and governments must focus on the development of novel vaccines and drugs against resistant infections to successfully reduce AMR.

Knowledge about antibiotics and attitudes towards vaccination: Regression analysis of Wellcome Monitor survey data.

“…Vaccination is one of a number of interventions for addressing antimicrobial resistance, and the public health challenges of antimicrobial resistance and vaccine hesitancy are biomedically connected [5][6][7][8][9] and high priorities for the WHO. 4 Despite their well-evidenced biomedical connections, minimal research has examined the extent to which vaccine hesitancy and attitudes towards antibiotic consumption correlate in the general population.…”

“…Vaccines are one among a number of interventions that have been proposed to address the development of antimicrobial resistance. [5][6][7][8][9] Vaccines can directly immunise against bacterial pathogens for example, reducing the use of antibiotics and consequent resistance selection pressure with the outcome of reducing levels of resistance in vaccine-addressed serotypes. [10][11][12][13][14] Vaccines also immunise against viral pathogens for which antibiotics can be erroneously prescribed, or that may co-infect with bacterial pathogens causing secondary infections such as pneumonia or otitis media.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14] Vaccines also immunise against viral pathogens for which antibiotics can be erroneously prescribed, or that may co-infect with bacterial pathogens causing secondary infections such as pneumonia or otitis media. [7][8][9]15 With some international heterogeneity, the use of antibiotics to treat bacterial co-infections in COVID-19 patients has exemplified this use of antibiotics, with significant amounts of antibiotics being used to treat these cases and concerns being raised over the implications for antimicrobial resistance. 16 In all of the above scenarios antibiotic use is minimised to society's benefit in the context of resistance development and individual benefit in terms of the negative effects of antibiotic use on the microbiome (for example, reduced diversity) and 'bystander' members of human microbial flora.…”

Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals

“…Vaccination has long been a key tool to reduce disease in livestock and maintain the health and welfare of livestock. Vaccines are contributing to preventing and mitigating many livestock diseases (e.g., Johne’s Disease and BRDC in cattle, bluetongue and sheeppox in sheep, PRRS in swine, and Newcastle and Marek’s diseases in poultry), which have complex, limited or no treatment options available, as well as reducing the use and misuse of antibiotics [ 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 ]. Vaccines play a significant role in preventing livestock diseases, but they also have some unsatisfactory side effects.…”

Impfen im Kontext globaler Herausforderungen

“…Verschiedene Impfstoffkandidaten, die gegen bakterielle Erreger mit einer Resistenzproblematik gerichtet sind (z. B. Clostridium difficile, Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis), werden derzeit entwickelt [5]. Aber auch etablierte Impfstoffe (z.…”