Management Options for Reducing the Release of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes to the Environment

By D. Larsson, Y. Z, Amy Pruden, A. Amézquita, P. Collignon, K. Brandt, D. Graham, J. Lazorchak, S. Suzuki, P. Silley and 5 more. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2013

770 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background: There is growing concern worldwide about the role of polluted soil and water environments in the development and dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Objective: Our aim in this study was to identify management options for reducing the spread of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistance determinants via environmental pathways, with the ultimate goal of extending the useful life span of antibiotics. We also examined incentives and disincentives for action. Methods: We focused on management options with respect to limiting agricultural sources; treatment of domestic, hospital, and industrial wastewater; and aquaculture. Discussion: We identified several options, such as nutrient management, runoff control, and infrastructure upgrades. Where appropriate, a cross-section of examples from various regions of the world is provided. The importance of monitoring and validating effectiveness of management strategies is also highlighted. Finally, we describe a case study in Sweden that illustrates the critical role of communication to engage stakeholders and promote action. Conclusions: Environmental releases of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria can in many cases be reduced at little or no cost. Some management options are synergistic with existing policies and goals. The anticipated benefit is an extended useful life span for current and future antibiotics. Although risk reductions are often difficult to quantify, the severity of accelerating worldwide morbidity and mortality rates associated with antibiotic resistance strongly indicate the need for action.

Subfields: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Pollution, Water Science and Technology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3c40267a869ff1107e93cf52db3c2ef47bd76036

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Citations in the corpus

Environmental factors influencing the development and spread of antibiotic resistance (2017, positive): “Apart from transmission between humans, environmental dissemination routes for resistant bacteria have also been pointed out as potentially important for the spread of antibiotic resistance (Allen et al. 2010; Finley et al. 2013; Pruden et al. 2013; Levin, Baquero and Johnsen 2014; Huijbers et al. 2”
An overview on significance of fish nutrition in aquaculture industry (2017, background): “Unlike livestock, fish do not demonstrate any benefit from sub therapeutic levels of antibiotics in their feed (Pruden et al., 2013) [22].”
Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) for Environmental Development and Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance (2013, background): “Because we are addressing an inter national problem and because the precautionary approach is used in many jurisdictions, there are many risk management approaches that can be implemented now, before anti biotic resistance issues worsen, as noted in the related risk management paper resulting from ”
The global threat of antimicrobial resistance: science for intervention (2015, background): “Strategies to mitigate the risks of environmental exposure should be aimed at improving industrial systems for sanitation and decontamination of hospital sewage water [19].”
Using the class 1 integron-integrase gene as a proxy for anthropogenic pollution (2014, background): “Methods to control pollution by antibiotics and their respective resistance genes have been suggested, including limiting the use of antibiotics in agriculture, and improving treatment of urban, industrial and hospital waste water (Pruden et al., 2013; Berglund et al., 2014).”
Antibiotic resistome in the livestock and aquaculture industries: Status and solutions (2020, background): “…the hyperthermophilic phase, composting can effectively remove antibiotics such as tetracyclines, sulfonamides, fluoroquinolone, macrolides, ionophores, and penicillins up to 70%, thereby decreasing the potential selection for ARGs along the pathways (Pruden et al., 2013; Selvam & Wong, 2017).”