Antibiotics are considered to be one of the major medical breakthroughs in history. Nonetheless, over the past four decades, antibiotic resistance has reached alarming levels worldwide and this trend is expected to continue to increase, leading some experts to forecast the coming of a ‘post-antibiotic’ era. Although antibiotic resistance in pathogens is traditionally linked to clinical environments, there is a rising concern that the global propagation of antibiotic resistance is also associated with environmental reservoirs that are linked to anthropogenic activities such as animal husbandry, agronomic practices and wastewater treatment. It is hypothesized that the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) within and between environmental microbial communities can ultimately contribute to the acquisition of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens. Nonetheless, the scope of this phenomenon is not clear due to the complexity of microbial communities in the environment and methodological constraints that limit comprehensive in situ evaluation of microbial genomes. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding antibiotic resistance in non-clinical environments, specifically focusing on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance across ecological boundaries and the contribution of this phenomenon to global antibiotic resistance.
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March 2017
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A representative image of a microfl uidic device for antibiotic susceptibility testing. In the device, bacterial cells are immobilized enabling realtime monitoring of bacterial morphology. Upon addition of antibiotics, susceptible cells die, while the resistant bacteria survive. For more information please see the article by Aroonnual et al. (pages 91-101). - PDF Icon PDF LinkTable of Contents
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Review Article|
March 03 2017
Impact of anthropogenic activities on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance across ecological boundaries
Vijay Tripathi;
Vijay Tripathi
*
1Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agriculture Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Rishon Lezion, Israel
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Eddie Cytryn
1Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agriculture Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Rishon Lezion, Israel
Correspondence: Eddie Cytryn (eddie@volcani.agri.gov.il)
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
November 14 2016
Revision Received:
January 20 2017
Accepted:
January 24 2017
Online ISSN: 1744-1358
Print ISSN: 0071-1365
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society
2017
Essays Biochem (2017) 61 (1): 11–21.
Article history
Received:
November 14 2016
Revision Received:
January 20 2017
Accepted:
January 24 2017
Citation
Henrietta Venter, Vijay Tripathi, Eddie Cytryn; Impact of anthropogenic activities on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance across ecological boundaries. Essays Biochem 3 March 2017; 61 (1): 11–21. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/EBC20160054
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