TY - JOUR
T1 - Antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment as bio-indicators of pollution
AU - Paulson, James R.
AU - Mahmoud, Ibrahim Y.
AU - Al-Musharafi, Salma K.
AU - Al-Bahry, Saif N.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Paulson et al.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Antibiotic resistant and multiple-antibiotic resistant bacteria (MARB) have become increasingly widespread,primarily due to overuse of antibiotics in clinical therapeutics and in growth promotion for livestock. This undermines the usefulness of the drugs and presents a serious problem for human health. Compounding the problem,resistance determinants can spread between different bacteria via transfer of genetic material,so that the digestive tracts of farm animals,for example,have become breeding grounds for MARB. Antibiotics and resistant bacteria enter the environment in both treated and untreated sewage,via wastewater streams from hospitals and pharmaceutical plants,and through agricultural runoff from feedlots and fields fertilized with manure. This has led to contamination of groundwater,lakes,rivers and coastal sea water,and high levels of MARB in wildlife which indicates pollution of these habitats. Here we propose that the level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wildlife,for example sea turtles and fish,could be used as a bioindicator to monitor pollution and to evaluate the success of efforts to curtail it.
AB - Antibiotic resistant and multiple-antibiotic resistant bacteria (MARB) have become increasingly widespread,primarily due to overuse of antibiotics in clinical therapeutics and in growth promotion for livestock. This undermines the usefulness of the drugs and presents a serious problem for human health. Compounding the problem,resistance determinants can spread between different bacteria via transfer of genetic material,so that the digestive tracts of farm animals,for example,have become breeding grounds for MARB. Antibiotics and resistant bacteria enter the environment in both treated and untreated sewage,via wastewater streams from hospitals and pharmaceutical plants,and through agricultural runoff from feedlots and fields fertilized with manure. This has led to contamination of groundwater,lakes,rivers and coastal sea water,and high levels of MARB in wildlife which indicates pollution of these habitats. Here we propose that the level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wildlife,for example sea turtles and fish,could be used as a bioindicator to monitor pollution and to evaluate the success of efforts to curtail it.
KW - Antibiotic resistance
KW - Bioindicators
KW - Ocean pollution
KW - Sea turtles
KW - Water pollution
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U2 - 10.2174/1874070701610010342
DO - 10.2174/1874070701610010342
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84996536644
SN - 1874-0707
VL - 10
SP - 342
EP - 351
JO - Open Biotechnology Journal
JF - Open Biotechnology Journal
ER -