Aquatic environments in the One Health context: modulating the antimicrobial resistance phenomenon

Abstract

From an anthropocentric perspective, aquatic environments are important to maintain health and survival, however, as they are sometimes managed based on misconception, they are considered a convergent pathway for anthropogenic residues and sanitation. Thus, it is observed that these ecosystems have been threatened by chemical pollution due to xenobiotics, especially from a more contemporary approach, by the selective pressure associated with antimicrobials. There are several studies that report the enrichment of antimicrobial resistant bacteria and mobilizable antimicrobial resistance genes in aquatic and adjacent ecosystems. From the perspective of the emerging and reemerging number of diseases related to the interplay of human, animal, and environmental factors, a new conception arose to address these issues holistically, which is known as the One Health approach. Scientific and political discourse on this conception should lead to effective action plans for preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases in open environment, including those impacted by anthropogenic activities. Therefore, nowadays, discussions on antimicrobial resistance are becoming broader and are requiring a multi-disciplinary view to address health and environmental challenges, which includes aquatic environment management. Water may represent one of the most important ecosystems for the in antimicrobial resistance phenomenon that arises when a dynamic and singular microbial community may be influenced by several characteristics. As antimicrobial substances do not all degrade at the same time under the same treatment, strategies concerning their removal from the environment should consider their individualized chemical characteristics.

Editorial: Freshwater sustainability and aquatic ecology in a fast-changing world

“…Sobek & Undeman (2019) discuss another critical issue in water resources management: the need to incorporate integrated approaches that can detect and comprehend the effects of a wide range of novel synthetic chemicals that are being increasingly detected in aquatic ecosystems. In a related contribution about emerging pollution, Resende et al (2020) discuss the role of aquatic environments within the "One Health" context. Under poor management, aquatic ecosystems could transport and accumulate anthropogenic residues, ultimately contributing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.…”

Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Aquatic Environment: How Can Regions at Risk be Identified in the Future?

“…Of the comparable global monitoring data currently available for APIs (see Wilkinson et al, 2022), concentrations are high enough to elicit apical and/or nonapical effects in either fish, daphnia, or algae at >43% of the locations studied (Bouzas‐Monroy et al, 2022). Although the effects of aquatic pollution are largely limited to aquatic organisms, human health may also be affected via the selection and/or maintenance of antimicrobial resistance in the environment (Resende et al, 2020; Tell et al, 2019). For example, in 2019, human deaths attributable to bacteria resistant to antibiotic medicines reached 1.27 million (Murray et al, 2022), and projections estimate that deaths may reach up to 10 million/year by 2050 (United Nations Inter‐Agency Consultative Group, 2019).…”

One Health and a Computational Biology approach

“…Thus, these solutions result in positive impacts on the environment, animals Research, Society and Development, v. 11, n. 14, e02111437105, 2022 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10. 33448/rsd-v11i14.37105 and humans, which indicates that the One Health concept is indispensable for future projects (Resende et al, 2020).…”