Lessons from the Environmental Antibiotic Resistome

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is a global public health issue of growing proportions. All antibiotics are susceptible to resistance. The evidence is now clear that the environment is the single largest source and reservoir of resistance. Soil, aquatic, atmospheric, animal-associated, and built ecosystems are home to microbes that harbor antibiotic resistance elements and the means to mobilize them. The diversity and abundance of resistance in the environment is consistent with the ancient origins of antibiotics and a variety of studies support a long natural history of associated resistance. The implications are clear: Understanding the evolution of resistance in the environment, its diversity, and mechanisms is essential to the management of our existing and future antibiotic resources.

What are the effective solutions to control the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in the environment? A systematic review protocol

“…Anthropogenic activities largely contribute to the enrichment of the resistome of different ecosystems: the aquatic and terrestrial environments, also the atmosphere (aerosols, particles, dust) and the wildlife; exposing the bacteria, humans and animals to ARB and ARGs [13,18,[21][22][23][24][25]. As a serious concern, the environmental reservoirs are a source of emergence and transfer of ARGs from environmental to introduced bacteria into those pathogenic to humans and animals [26,27].…”

“…Antibiotic resistance being maintained at environmental and health interfaces [15], it is highly relevant to tackle the antibiotic resistance issue in a One-Health approach [25,31] via global, regional and national action plans [13,32,33].…”

Emerging issues in the environmental context of antibiotic-resistance

“…All three pathogens are abundant in the environment, including polluted water and soil ecosystems. So is Streptomyces cattleya, a species that naturally synthesizes carbapen ems (Surette and Wright, 2017) placing antibiotic-producing and antibiotic-sensitive bacteria in the same ecological niche. Recent data also show high concentrations of carbapenems in wastewater effluents, (Szekeres et al, 2017) underscoring the potential for the co-localization of anthropogenic carbapenems and carbapenem-producing and carbapenem-sensitive bacteria.…”

Constructing and deconstructing the bacterial cell wall

“…And indeed, less than a century after the widespread medical use of antibiotics, extensively resistant-and thus powerfully pathogenic bacteriahave arrived. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Their emergence was not a surprise. 38 Notwithstanding the widespread scientific appreciation of the monumental difficulty to secure new generations of antibiotic structure to vanquish these multidrug and extensively-drug resistant bacteria, [39][40][41] the paths toward surmounting this response are recognized.…”

“…The result is antibiotic‐resistant bacteria. And indeed, less than a century after the widespread medical use of antibiotics, extensively resistant—and thus powerfully pathogenic bacteria—have arrived …”