BackgroundThe scoping review has become an increasingly popular approach for synthesizing research evidence. It is a relatively new approach for which a universal study definition or definitive procedure has not been established. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide an overview of scoping reviews in the literature.MethodsA scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O'Malley framework. A search was conducted in four bibliographic databases and the gray literature to identify scoping review studies. Review selection and characterization were performed by two independent reviewers using pretested forms.ResultsThe search identified 344 scoping reviews published from 1999 to October 2012. The reviews varied in terms of purpose, methodology, and detail of reporting. Nearly three-quarter of reviews (74.1%) addressed a health topic. Study completion times varied from 2 weeks to 20 months, and 51% utilized a published methodological framework. Quality assessment of included studies was infrequently performed (22.38%).ConclusionsScoping reviews are a relatively new but increasingly common approach for mapping broad topics. Because of variability in their conduct, there is a need for their methodological standardization to ensure the utility and strength of evidence. © 2014 The Authors. Research Synthesis Methods published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract

One Health is the collaborative effort of multiple health science professions to attain optimal health for people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants, and our environment. The drivers of antimicrobial resistance include antimicrobial use and abuse in human, animal, and environmental sectors and the spread of resistant bacteria and resistance determinants within and between these sectors and around the globe. Most of the classes of antimicrobials used to treat bacterial infections in humans are also used in animals. Given the important and interdependent human, animal, and environmental dimensions of antimicrobial resistance, it is logical to take a One Health approach when addressing this problem. This includes taking steps to preserve the continued effectiveness of existing antimicrobials by eliminating their inappropriate use and by limiting the spread of infection. Major concerns in the animal health and agriculture sectors are mass medication of animals with antimicrobials that are critically important for humans, such as third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, and the long-term, in-feed use of medically important antimicrobials, such as colistin, tetracyclines, and macrolides, for growth promotion. In the human sector it is essential to prevent infections, reduce over-prescribing of antimicrobials, improve sanitation, and improve hygiene and infection control. Pollution from inadequate treatment of industrial, residential, and farm waste is expanding the resistome in the environment. Numerous countries and several international agencies have included a One Health approach within their action plans to address antimicrobial resistance. Necessary actions include improvements in antimicrobial use regulation and policy, surveillance, stewardship, infection control, sanitation, animal husbandry, and alternatives to antimicrobials. WHO recently has launched new guidelines on the use of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals, recommending that farmers and the food industry stop using antimicrobials routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in healthy animals. These guidelines aim to help preserve the effectiveness of antimicrobials that are important for human medicine by reducing their use in animals.

Food animals in the United States are often exposed to antimicrobials to treat and prevent infectious disease or to promote growth. Many of these antimicrobials are identical to or closely resemble drugs used in humans. Precise figures for the quantity of antimicrobials used in animals are not publicly available in the United States, and estimates vary widely. Antimicrobial resistance has emerged in zoonotic enteropathogens (e.g., Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp.), commensal bacteria (e.g., Escherichia coli, enterococci), and bacterial pathogens of animals (e.g., Pasteurella, Actinobacillus spp.), but the prevalence of resistance varies. Antimicrobial resistance emerges from the use of antimicrobials in animals and the subsequent transfer of resistance genes and bacteria among animals and animal products and the environment. To slow the development of resistance, some countries have restricted antimicrobial use in feed, and some groups advocate similar measures in the United States. Alternatives to growth-promoting and prophylactic uses of antimicrobials in agriculture include improved management practices, wider use of vaccines, and introduction of probiotics. Monitoring programs, prudent use guidelines, and educational campaigns provide approaches to minimize the further development of antimicrobial resistance.

Antibiotic resistance and associated genes are ubiquitous and ancient, with most genes that encode resistance in human pathogens having originated in bacteria from the natural environment (eg, β-lactamases and fluoroquinolones resistance genes, such as qnr). The rapid evolution and spread of "new" antibiotic resistance genes has been enhanced by modern human activity and its influence on the environmental resistome. This highlights the importance of including the role of the environmental vectors, such as bacterial genetic diversity within soil and water, in resistance risk management. We need to take more steps to decrease the spread of resistance genes in environmental bacteria into human pathogens, to decrease the spread of resistant bacteria to people and animals via foodstuffs, wastes and water, and to minimize the levels of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria introduced into the environment. Reducing this risk must include improved management of waste containing antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms.