The Invisible Threat of Antibiotic Resistance in Food. - Related Documents




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412301.0000The Invisible Threat of Antibiotic Resistance in Food. The continued and improper use of antibiotics has resulted in the emergence of antibiotic resistance (AR). The dissemination of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms occurs via a multitude of pathways, including the food supply. The failure to comply with the regulatory withdrawal period associated with the treatment of domestic animals or the illicit use of antibiotics as growth promoters has contributed to the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meat and dairy products. It was demonstrated that not only do animal and human pathogens act as donors of antibiotic resistance genes, but also that lactic acid bacteria can serve as reservoirs of genes encoding for antibiotic resistance. Consequently, the consumption of fermented foods also presents a potential conduit for the dissemination of AR. This review provides an overview of the potential for the transmission of antibiotic resistance in a range of traditional and novel foods. The literature data reveal that foodborne microbes can be a significant factor in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance.202540149061
418810.9999Use of antimicrobial agents in aquaculture. The aquaculture industry has grown dramatically, and plays an important role in the world's food supply chain. Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria associated with food animals receives much attention, and drug use in aquaculture is also an important issue. There are many differences between aquatic and terrestrial management systems, such as the methods used for administration of drugs. Unique problems are related to the application of drugs in aquatic environments. Residual drugs in fish products can affect people who consume them, and antimicrobials released into aquatic environments can select for resistant bacteria. Moreover, these antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, or their resistance genes, can be transferred to humans. To decrease the risks associated with the use of antimicrobials, various regulations have been developed. In addition, it is necessary to prevent bacterial diseases in aquatic animals by vaccination, to improve culture systems, and to monitor the amount of antimicrobial drugs used and the prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.201222849275
418920.9999Antimicrobial resistance at farm level. Bacteria that are resistant to antimicrobials are widespread. This article reviews the distribution of resistant bacteria in farm environments. Humans, animals, and environmental sites are all reservoirs of bacterial communities that contain some bacteria that are susceptible to antimicrobials and others that are resistant. Farm ecosystems provide an environment in which resistant bacteria and genes can emerge, amplify and spread. Dissemination occurs via the food chain and via several other pathways. Ecological, epidemiological, molecular and mathematical approaches are being used to study the origin and expansion of the resistance problem and its relationship to antibiotic usage. The prudent and responsible use of antibiotics is an essential part of an ethical approach to improving animal health and food safety. The responsible use of antibiotics during research is vital, but to fully contribute to the containment of antimicrobial resistance 'prudent use' must also be part of good management practices at all levels of farm life.200617094710
412430.9999A risk analysis framework for the long-term management of antibiotic resistance in food-producing animals. In recent years, there has been increasing concern that the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals, particularly their long-term use for growth promotion, contributes to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animals. These resistant bacteria may spread from animals to humans via the food chain. They may also transfer their antibiotic-resistance genes into human pathogenic bacteria, leading to failure of antibiotic treatment for some, possibly life-threatening, human conditions. To assist regulatory decision making, the actual risk to human health from antibiotic use in animals needs to be determined (risk assessment) and the requirements for risk minimisation (risk management and risk communication) determined. We propose a novel method of risk analysis involving risk assessment for three interrelated hazards: the antibiotic (chemical agent), the antibiotic-resistant bacterium (microbiological agent) and the antibiotic-resistance gene (genetic agent). Risk minimisation may then include control of antibiotic use and/or the reduction of the spread of bacterial infection and/or prevention of transfer of resistance determinants between bacterial populations.200212385693
399140.9999Antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria and their resistance genes in bacterial biofilms. Biofilm-forming bacteria are ubiquitous in the environment and also include biofilm-forming pathogens. Environmental biofilms may form a reservoir for risk genes and may act as a challenge for human health. Examples of the health relevance of biofilms are the increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria hosted in biofilms in hospital and environment and consequently the interaction of these bacteria with human cells, e.g. in the immune system. Although data concerning the occurrence and spread of resistant bacteria within hospital care units are available, the fate of these bacteria in the environment and especially in the aquatic environment has barely been investigated. Once antibiotic resistant bacteria have entered the environment, a back coupling by ingestion or other possible entry into the host has to be prevented. Therefore a strategy to investigate paths of entry, accumulation and spread of resistant bacteria in environmental compartments has been developed using quantitative determination of genetic resistance determinants. Additionally a bacterial bioassay assessed bioeffectivity thresholds of low antibiotic concentrations. This approach enables an evaluation of the potential of contaminated waters to exert a selection pressure on bacterial communities and thus promote the persistence of resistant organisms. Completed with an indicator system for the identification of sources of multiresistant bacteria a concept for monitoring and evaluation of environmental compartments with respect to their potential of antibiotic resistance dissemination is suggested.200616705607
398550.9999The scourge of antibiotic resistance: the important role of the environment. 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.201323723195
423160.9999Recent investigations and updated criteria for the assessment of antibiotic resistance in food lactic acid bacteria. The worldwide use, and misuse, of antibiotics for about sixty years in the so-called antibiotic era, has been estimated in some one to ten million tons, a relevant part of which destined for non-therapeutic purposes such as growth promoting treatments for livestock or crop protection. As highly adaptable organisms, bacteria have reacted to this dramatic change in their environment by developing several well-known mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and are becoming increasingly resistant to conventional antibiotics. In recent years, commensal bacteria have become a cause of concern since they may act as reservoirs for the antibiotic resistance genes found in human pathogens. In particular, the food chain has been considered the main route for the introduction of animal and environment associated antibiotic resistant bacteria into the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) where these genes may be transferred to pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria. As fundamental microbial communities in a large variety of fermented foods and feed, the anaerobe facultative, aerotolerant lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are likely to play a pivotal role in the resistance gene exchange occurring in the environment, food, feed and animal and human GIT. Therefore their antibiotic resistance features and their genetic basis have recently received increasing attention. The present article summarises the results of the latest studies on the most typical genera belonging to the low G + C branch of LAB. The evolution of the criteria established by European regulatory bodies to ensure a safe use of microorganisms in food and feed, including the assessment of their antibiotic resistance is also reviewed.201121515393
419270.9999Food and human gut as reservoirs of transferable antibiotic resistance encoding genes. The increase and spread of antibiotic resistance (AR) over the past decade in human pathogens has become a worldwide health concern. Recent genomic and metagenomic studies in humans, animals, in food and in the environment have led to the discovery of a huge reservoir of AR genes called the resistome that could be mobilized and transferred from these sources to human pathogens. AR is a natural phenomenon developed by bacteria to protect antibiotic-producing bacteria from their own products and also to increase their survival in highly competitive microbial environments. Although antibiotics are used extensively in humans and animals, there is also considerable usage of antibiotics in agriculture, especially in animal feeds and aquaculture. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the sources of AR and the use of antibiotics in these reservoirs as selectors for emergence of AR bacteria in humans via the food chain.201323805136
402980.9999Reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes. A potential concern about the use of antibiotics in animal husbundary is that, as antibiotic resistant bacteria move from the farm into the human diet, they may pass antibiotic resistance genes to bacteria that normally reside in a the human intestinal tract and from there to bacteria that cause human disease (reservoir hypothesis). In this article various approaches to evaluating the risk of agricultural use of antibiotics are assessed critically. In addition, the potential benefits of applying new technology and using new insights from the field of microbial ecology are explained.200617127525
419090.9999Insects represent a link between food animal farms and the urban environment for antibiotic resistance traits. Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections result in higher patient mortality rates, prolonged hospitalizations, and increased health care costs. Extensive use of antibiotics as growth promoters in the animal industry represents great pressure for evolution and selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on farms. Despite growing evidence showing that antibiotic use and bacterial resistance in food animals correlate with resistance in human pathogens, the proof for direct transmission of antibiotic resistance is difficult to provide. In this review, we make a case that insects commonly associated with food animals likely represent a direct and important link between animal farms and urban communities for antibiotic resistance traits. Houseflies and cockroaches have been shown to carry multidrug-resistant clonal lineages of bacteria identical to those found in animal manure. Furthermore, several studies have demonstrated proliferation of bacteria and horizontal transfer of resistance genes in the insect digestive tract as well as transmission of resistant bacteria by insects to new substrates. We propose that insect management should be an integral part of pre- and postharvest food safety strategies to minimize spread of zoonotic pathogens and antibiotic resistance traits from animal farms. Furthermore, the insect link between the agricultural and urban environment presents an additional argument for adopting prudent use of antibiotics in the food animal industry.201424705326
3984100.9999Antimicrobial and the Resistances in the Environment: Ecological and Health Risks, Influencing Factors, and Mitigation Strategies. Antimicrobial contamination and antimicrobial resistance have become global environmental and health problems. A large number of antimicrobials are used in medical and animal husbandry, leading to the continuous release of residual antimicrobials into the environment. It not only causes ecological harm, but also promotes the occurrence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The role of environmental factors in antimicrobial contamination and the spread of antimicrobial resistance is often overlooked. There are a large number of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and antimicrobial resistance genes in human beings, which increases the likelihood that pathogenic bacteria acquire resistance, and also adds opportunities for human contact with antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. In this paper, we review the fate of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance in the environment, including the occurrence, spread, and impact on ecological and human health. More importantly, this review emphasizes a number of environmental factors that can exacerbate antimicrobial contamination and the spread of antimicrobial resistance. In the future, the timely removal of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance genes in the environment will be more effective in alleviating antimicrobial contamination and antimicrobial resistance.202336851059
4194110.9999Do nonclinical uses of antibiotics make a difference? An increasing range of antibacterial compounds is being used for nonclinical purposes, especially in the fields of animal husbandry and fish farming. As in human medicine, exposure to antibiotics has lead to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animal populations. The potential impact of antibiotic use in animals on human health and the management of clinical infections in humans is discussed in light of growing evidence to suggest that "new" resistance genes and multiresistant pathogens with increased pathogenicity are emerging in food animals as a direct consequence of antibiotic exposure.19947963441
4230120.9999Antibiotic resistance in food lactic acid bacteria--a review. Antibiotics are a major tool utilized by the health care industry to fight bacterial infections; however, bacteria are highly adaptable creatures and are capable of developing resistance to antibiotics. Consequently, decades of antibiotic use, or rather misuse, have resulted in bacterial resistance to many modern antibiotics. This antibiotic resistance can cause significant danger and suffering for many people with common bacterial infections, those once easily treated with antibiotics. For several decades studies on selection and dissemination of antibiotic resistance have focused mainly on clinically relevant species. However, recently many investigators have speculated that commensal bacteria including lactic acid bacteria (LAB) may act as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes similar to those found in human pathogens. The main threat associated with these bacteria is that they can transfer resistance genes to pathogenic bacteria. Genes conferring resistance to tetracycline, erythromycin and vancomycin have been detected and characterized in Lactococcus lactis, Enterococci and, recently, in Lactobacillus species isolated from fermented meat and milk products. A number of initiatives have been recently launched by various organizations across the globe to address the biosafety concerns of starter cultures and probiotic microorganisms. The studies can lead to better understanding of the role played by the dairy starter microorganisms in horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes to intestinal microorganisms and food-associated pathogenic bacteria.200516289406
4122130.9999Antimicrobial resistance in the food chain: a review. Antimicrobial resistant zoonotic pathogens present on food constitute a direct risk to public health. Antimicrobial resistance genes in commensal or pathogenic strains form an indirect risk to public health, as they increase the gene pool from which pathogenic bacteria can pick up resistance traits. Food can be contaminated with antimicrobial resistant bacteria and/or antimicrobial resistance genes in several ways. A first way is the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria on food selected by the use of antibiotics during agricultural production. A second route is the possible presence of resistance genes in bacteria that are intentionally added during the processing of food (starter cultures, probiotics, bioconserving microorganisms and bacteriophages). A last way is through cross-contamination with antimicrobial resistant bacteria during food processing. Raw food products can be consumed without having undergone prior processing or preservation and therefore hold a substantial risk for transfer of antimicrobial resistance to humans, as the eventually present resistant bacteria are not killed. As a consequence, transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes between bacteria after ingestion by humans may occur. Under minimal processing or preservation treatment conditions, sublethally damaged or stressed cells can be maintained in the food, inducing antimicrobial resistance build-up and enhancing the risk of resistance transfer. Food processes that kill bacteria in food products, decrease the risk of transmission of antimicrobial resistance.201323812024
4075140.9999Antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens--a cause for concern? The widespread use of antibiotics in food animal production systems has resulted in the emergence of antibiotic resistant zoonotic bacteria that can be transmitted to humans through the food chain. Infection with antibiotic resistant bacteria negatively impacts on public health, due to an increased incidence of treatment failure and severity of disease. Development of resistant bacteria in food animals can result from chromosomal mutations but is more commonly associated with the horizontal transfer of resistance determinants borne on mobile genetic elements. Food may represent a dynamic environment for the continuing transfer of antibiotic resistance determinants between bacteria. Current food preservation systems that use a combination of environmental stresses to reduce growth of bacteria, may serve to escalate development and dissemination of antibiotic resistance among food related pathogens. The increasing reliance on biocides for pathogen control in food production and processing, heightens the risk of selection of biocide-resistant strains. Of particular concern is the potential for sublethal exposure to biocides to select for bacteria with enhanced multi-drug efflux pump activity capable of providing both resistance to biocides and cross-resistance to multiple antibiotics. Although present evidence suggests that biocide resistance is associated with a physiological cost, the possibility of the development of adaptive mutations conferring increased fitness cannot be ruled-out. Strategies aimed at inhibiting efflux pumps and eliminating plasmids could help to restore therapeutic efficacy to antibiotics and reduce the spread of antibiotic resistant foodborne pathogens through the food chain.200818781926
4215150.9999Antibiotic usage in animals: impact on bacterial resistance and public health. Antibiotic use whether for therapy or prevention of bacterial diseases, or as performance enhancers will result in antibiotic resistant micro-organisms, not only among pathogens but also among bacteria of the endogenous microflora of animals. The extent to which antibiotic use in animals will contribute to the antibiotic resistance in humans is still under much debate. In addition to the veterinary use of antibiotics, the use of these agents as antimicrobial growth promoters (AGP) greatly influences the prevalence of resistance in animal bacteria and a poses risk factor for the emergence of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens. Antibiotic resistant bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and enterococci from animals can colonise or infect the human population via contact (occupational exposure) or via the food chain. Moreover, resistance genes can be transferred from bacteria of animals to human pathogens in the intestinal flora of humans. In humans, the control of resistance is based on hygienic measures: prevention of cross contamination and a decrease in the usage of antibiotics. In food animals housed closely together, hygienic measures, such as prevention of oral-faecal contact, are not feasible. Therefore, diminishing the need for antibiotics is the only possible way of controlling resistance in large groups of animals. This can be achieved by improvement of animal husbandry systems, feed composition and eradication of or vaccination against infectious diseases. Moreover, abolishing the use of antibiotics as feed additives for growth promotion in animals bred as a food source for humans would decrease the use of antibiotics in animals on a worldwide scale by nearly 50%. This would not only diminish the public health risk of dissemination of resistant bacteria or resistant genes from animals to humans, but would also be of major importance in maintaining the efficacy of antibiotics in veterinary medicine.199910551432
4055160.9999Antimicrobial use in aquaculture re-examined: its relevance to antimicrobial resistance and to animal and human health. The worldwide growth of aquaculture has been accompanied by a rapid increase in therapeutic and prophylactic usage of antimicrobials including those important in human therapeutics. Approximately 80% of antimicrobials used in aquaculture enter the environment with their activity intact where they select for bacteria whose resistance arises from mutations or more importantly, from mobile genetic elements containing multiple resistance determinants transmissible to other bacteria. Such selection alters biodiversity in aquatic environments and the normal flora of fish and shellfish. The commonality of the mobilome (the total of all mobile genetic elements in a genome) between aquatic and terrestrial bacteria together with the presence of residual antimicrobials, biofilms, and high concentrations of bacteriophages where the aquatic environment may also be contaminated with pathogens of human and animal origin can stimulate exchange of genetic information between aquatic and terrestrial bacteria. Several recently found genetic elements and resistance determinants for quinolones, tetracyclines, and β-lactamases are shared between aquatic bacteria, fish pathogens, and human pathogens, and appear to have originated in aquatic bacteria. Excessive use of antimicrobials in aquaculture can thus potentially negatively impact animal and human health as well as the aquatic environment and should be better assessed and regulated.201323711078
3990170.9999Environmental pollution by antibiotics and by antibiotic resistance determinants. Antibiotics are among the most successful drugs used for human therapy. However, since they can challenge microbial populations, they must be considered as important pollutants as well. Besides being used for human therapy, antibiotics are extensively used for animal farming and for agricultural purposes. Residues from human environments and from farms may contain antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes that can contaminate natural environments. The clearest consequence of antibiotic release in natural environments is the selection of resistant bacteria. The same resistance genes found at clinical settings are currently disseminated among pristine ecosystems without any record of antibiotic contamination. Nevertheless, the effect of antibiotics on the biosphere is wider than this and can impact the structure and activity of environmental microbiota. Along the article, we review the impact that pollution by antibiotics or by antibiotic resistance genes may have for both human health and for the evolution of environmental microbial populations.200919560847
3994180.9999Environmental Biofilms as Reservoirs for Antimicrobial Resistance. Characterizing the response of microbial communities to a range of antibiotic concentrations is one of the strategies used to understand the impact of antibiotic resistance. Many studies have described the occurrence and prevalence of antibiotic resistance in microbial communities from reservoirs such as hospitals, sewage, and farm feedlots, where bacteria are often exposed to high and/or constant concentrations of antibiotics. Outside of these sources, antibiotics generally occur at lower, sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs). The constant exposure to low concentrations of antibiotics may serve as a chemical "cue" that drives development of antibiotic resistance. Low concentrations of antibiotics have not yet been broadly described in reservoirs outside of the aforementioned environments, nor is the transfer and dissemination of antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes within natural microbial communities fully understood. This review will thus focus on low antibiotic-concentration environmental reservoirs and mechanisms that are important in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance to help identify key knowledge gaps concerning the environmental resistome.202134970233
4053190.9999Evidence for the circulation of antimicrobial-resistant strains and genes in nature and especially between humans and animals. The concern over antibiotic-resistant bacteria producing human infections that are difficult to treat has led to a proliferation of studies in recent years investigating resistance in livestock, food products, the environment and people, as well as in the mechanisms of transfer of the genetic elements of resistance between bacteria, and the routes, or risk pathways, by which the spread of resistance might occur. The possibility of transfer of resistant genetic elements between bacteria in mixed populations adds many additional and complex potential routes of spread. There is now considerable evidence that transfer of antimicrobial resistance from food-producing animals to humans directly via the food chain is a likely route of spread. The application of animal wastes to farmland and subsequent leaching into watercourses has also been shown to lead to many potential, but less well-documented, pathways for spread. Often, however, where contamination of water sources, processed foods, and other environmental sites is concerned, specific routes of circulation are unclear and may well involve human sources of contamination. Examination of water sources in particular may be difficult due to dilution and their natural flow. Also, as meat is comparatively easy to examine, and is frequently suspected of being a source of spread, there is some bias in favour of studying this vehicle. Such complexities mean that, with the evidence currently available, it is not possible to prioritise the importance of potential risk pathways and circulation routes.201222849279