Antibiotic Resistance: How Much Do We Know and Where Do We Go from Here?

Antibiotic Administration Routes Significantly Influence the Levels of Antibiotic Resistance in Gut Microbiota

“…It provides a different yet rational interpretation of the magnitude of the AR problem seen today, and most impor-tantly, it makes effective AR mitigation an achievable mission. Prudent use of antibiotics may need to be focused more on how, what, and when to use antibiotics (28). With ongoing research on options for effective drug delivery and rational selection of drugs for applications, regaining control of bacterial infectious diseases without sacrificing prompt disease treatment and prevention may become an achievable goal.…”

“…Besides the use of antibiotics, evidence from the past few years clearly presents a complicated picture of AR emergence, development, dissemination, and persistence, with multiple risk factors, some of which have yet to be recognized (10,11,(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). By shifting the investigation and mitigation scope from limited numbers of pathogens to commensal populations and microbial ecosystems, we were able to reveal the contribution of the food chain as a main avenue in transmitting AR to humans (4,12,21,29) and to discover the importance of the host GI tract in the amplification, dissemination, and circulation of AR in the global ecosystem, even without direct exposure to antibiotics (16,26,30,31).…”

Fate of antibiotic resistant cultivable heterotrophic bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment processes

“…The practices of antibiotic use have influenced all the aspects of microbial genetic ecology, as revealed by the fact that antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been frequently detected in both liquids (wastewater, surface water, groundwater and even drinking water) (Schwartz et al, 2006;Storteboom et al, 2010) and in solids (sludge, soil and sediment) from the environment (Auerbach et al, 2007;Yang et al, 2014). Selective pressure from antibiotics can not only increase the concentrations of ARB by inhibiting antibiotic-susceptible bacteria, but also contributes to the selection of mutations and to horizontal gene transfer (HGT) between microorganisms (Martinez, 2008;Wang and Schaffner, 2011). Given that ARB and ARGs of clinical concern have been documented to arise from environmental sources (Martinez, 2008), greater attention has been focused on limiting resistance dissemination pathways between humans and the environment (Baquero et al, 2008).…”

Nanotechnology: the word is new but the concept is old. An overview of the science and technology in food and food products at the nanoscale level

“…We propose that this type of controlled release system could potentially play a powerful role in protecting against, and controlling the populations of, pathogenic organisms in the food chain. Bacteria have evolved multiple mechanisms for the efficient evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance, and these problems are worsened by the intensive use of antimicrobial agents in both animals and food products (Aarestrup, Wegener, & Collignon, 2008;Marshall & Levy, 2011;van der Horst, Schuurmans, Smid, Koenders, & ter Kuile, 2011;Wang & Schaffner, 2011). Exposure to low levels of antibiotics which do not thoroughly kill their targets are part of this resistance propagation/transfer (van der Horst et al, 2011), hence it follows that low level use could be rendered safer by improving antibiotic potency and/or efficacy.…”