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Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2022
Topics: Communicable Diseases; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Humans; Probiotics
PubMed: 35846742
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.938282 -
Current Opinion in Biotechnology Aug 2017The rising prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is an increasingly serious public health challenge. To address this problem, recent work ranging from clinical... (Review)
Review
The rising prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is an increasingly serious public health challenge. To address this problem, recent work ranging from clinical studies to theoretical modeling has provided valuable insights into the mechanisms of resistance, its emergence and spread, and ways to counteract it. A deeper understanding of the underlying dynamics of resistance evolution will require a combination of experimental and theoretical expertise from different disciplines and new technology for studying evolution in the laboratory. Here, we review recent advances in the quantitative understanding of the mechanisms and evolution of antibiotic resistance. We focus on key theoretical concepts and new technology that enables well-controlled experiments. We further highlight key challenges that can be met in the near future to ultimately develop effective strategies for combating resistance.
Topics: Bacteria; Cell Physiological Phenomena; Directed Molecular Evolution; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Epistasis, Genetic; Humans; Mutation
PubMed: 28292709
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2017.02.013 -
Comptes Rendus Biologies Mar 2024
Topics: One Health; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Anti-Bacterial Agents
PubMed: 37655922
DOI: 10.5802/crbiol.122 -
Journal of Infection and Public Health Dec 2023The emergence and re-emergence of tick-borne bacteria (TBB) as a public health problem raises the uncertainty of antibiotic resistance in these pathogens, which could be... (Review)
Review
The emergence and re-emergence of tick-borne bacteria (TBB) as a public health problem raises the uncertainty of antibiotic resistance in these pathogens, which could be dispersed to other pathogens. The impact of global warming has led to the emergence of pathogenic TBB in areas where they were not previously present and is another risk that must be taken into account under the One Health guides. This review aimed to analyze the existing information regarding antibiotic-resistant TBB and antibiotic-resistance genes (ARG) present in the tick microbiome, considering the potential to be transmitted to pathogenic microorganisms. Several Ehrlichia species have been reported to exhibit natural resistance to fluoroquinolones and typhus group Rickettsiae are naturally susceptible to erythromycin. TBB have a lower risk of acquiring ARG due to their natural habitat, but there is still a probability of acquiring them; furthermore, studies of these pathogens are limited. Pathogenic and commensal bacteria coexist within the tick microbiome along with ARGs for antibiotic deactivation, cellular protection, and efflux pumps; these ARGs confer resistance to antibiotics such as aminoglycosides, beta-lactamase, diaminopyrimidines, fluoroquinolones, glycopeptides, sulfonamides, and tetracyclines. Although with low probability, TBB can be a reservoir of ARGs.
Topics: Humans; One Health; Bacteria; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Genes, Bacterial; Fluoroquinolones
PubMed: 37945496
DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2023.10.027 -
MBio Feb 2023Antibiotic resistance is a major medical and public health challenge, characterized by global increases in the prevalence of resistant strains. The conventional view is... (Review)
Review
Antibiotic resistance is a major medical and public health challenge, characterized by global increases in the prevalence of resistant strains. The conventional view is that all antibiotic resistance is problematic, even when not in pathogens. Resistance in commensal bacteria poses risks, as resistant organisms can provide a reservoir of resistance genes that can be horizontally transferred to pathogens or may themselves cause opportunistic infections in the future. While these risks are real, we propose that commensal resistance can also generate benefits during antibiotic treatment of human infection, by promoting continued ecological suppression of pathogens. To define and illustrate this alternative conceptual perspective, we use a two-species mathematical model to identify the necessary and sufficient ecological conditions for beneficial resistance. We show that the benefits are limited to species (or strain) interactions where commensals suppress pathogen growth and are maximized when commensals compete with, rather than prey on or otherwise exploit pathogens. By identifying benefits of commensal resistance, we propose that rather than strictly minimizing all resistance, resistance management may be better viewed as an optimization problem. We discuss implications in two applied contexts: bystander (nontarget) selection within commensal microbiomes and pathogen treatment given polymicrobial infections. Antibiotic resistance is commonly viewed as universally costly, regardless of which bacterial cells express resistance. Here, we derive an opposing logic, where resistance in commensal bacteria can lead to reductions in pathogen density and improved outcomes on both the patient and public health scales. We use a mathematical model of commensal-pathogen interactions to define the necessary and sufficient conditions for beneficial resistance, highlighting the importance of reciprocal ecological inhibition to maximize the benefits of resistance. More broadly, we argue that determining the benefits as well as the costs of resistances in human microbiomes can transform resistance management from a minimization to an optimization problem. We discuss applied contexts and close with a review of key resistance optimization dimensions, including the magnitude, spectrum, and mechanism of resistance.
Topics: Humans; Bacteria; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Symbiosis; Microbiota; Drug Resistance, Bacterial
PubMed: 36475750
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01349-22 -
ELife Apr 2021Bacteria carry antibiotic resistant genes on movable sections of DNA that allow them to select the relevant genes on demand.
Bacteria carry antibiotic resistant genes on movable sections of DNA that allow them to select the relevant genes on demand.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacteria; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Integrons
PubMed: 33820602
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.68070 -
The Science of the Total Environment Sep 2023Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) are a major health risk caused particularly by anthropogenic activities. Acquisition of antibiotic resistances by bacteria is known...
Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) are a major health risk caused particularly by anthropogenic activities. Acquisition of antibiotic resistances by bacteria is known to have happened before the discovery of antibiotics and can occur through different routes. Bacteriophages are thought to have an important contribution to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. In this study, seven ARGs (bla, bla, bla, bla, mecA, vanA, and mcr-1) were investigated, in the bacteriophage fraction, in raw urban and hospital wastewaters. The genes were quantified in 58 raw wastewater samples collected at five WWTPs (n = 38) and hospitals (n = 20). All genes were detected in the phage DNA fraction, with the bla genes found in higher frequency. On the other hand, mecA and mcr-1 were the least frequently detected genes. Concentrations varied between 10 copies/L and 10 copies/L. The gene coding for the resistance to colistin (mcr-1), a last-resort antibiotic for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections, was identified in raw urban and hospital wastewaters with positivity rates of 19 % and 10 %, respectively. ARGs patterns varied between hospital and raw urban wastewaters, and within hospitals and WWTP. This study suggests that phages are reservoirs of ARGs, and that ARGs (with particularly emphasis on resistance to colistin and vancomycin) in the phage fraction are already widely widespread in the environment with potential large implications for public health.
Topics: Wastewater; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Genes, Bacterial; Colistin; Bacteriophages; Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Bacteria; Hospitals
PubMed: 37315610
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164708 -
Science Advances Nov 2022Although edaphic antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) pose serious threats to human well-being, their spatially explicit patterns and responses to environmental...
Although edaphic antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) pose serious threats to human well-being, their spatially explicit patterns and responses to environmental constraints at the global scale are not well understood. This knowledge gap is hindering the global action plan on antibiotic resistance launched by the World Health Organization. Here, a global analysis of 1088 soil metagenomic samples detected 558 ARGs in soils, where ARG abundance in agricultural habitats was higher than that in nonagricultural habitats. Soil ARGs were mostly carried by clinical pathogens and gut microbes that mediated the control of climatic and anthropogenic factors to ARGs. We generated a global map of soil ARG abundance, where the identified microbial hosts, agricultural activities, and anthropogenic factors explained ARG hot spots in India, East Asia, Western Europe, and the United States. Our results highlight health threats from soil clinical pathogens carrying ARGs and determine regions prioritized to control soil antibiotic resistance worldwide.
Topics: Humans; Soil; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Soil Microbiology; Genes, Bacterial; Drug Resistance, Microbial
PubMed: 36383677
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq8015 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Nov 2020Antibiotic use is a key driver of antibiotic resistance. Understanding the quantitative association between antibiotic use and resulting resistance is important for...
Antibiotic use is a key driver of antibiotic resistance. Understanding the quantitative association between antibiotic use and resulting resistance is important for predicting future rates of antibiotic resistance and for designing antibiotic stewardship policy. However, the use-resistance association is complicated by "spillover," in which one population's level of antibiotic use affects another population's level of resistance via the transmission of bacteria between those populations. Spillover is known to have effects at the level of families and hospitals, but it is unclear if spillover is relevant at larger scales. We used mathematical modeling and analysis of observational data to address this question. First, we used dynamical models of antibiotic resistance to predict the effects of spillover. Whereas populations completely isolated from one another do not experience any spillover, we found that if even 1% of interactions are between populations, then spillover may have large consequences: The effect of a change in antibiotic use in one population on antibiotic resistance in that population could be reduced by as much as 50%. Then, we quantified spillover in observational antibiotic use and resistance data from US states and European countries for three pathogen-antibiotic combinations, finding that increased interactions between populations were associated with smaller differences in antibiotic resistance between those populations. Thus, spillover may have an important impact at the level of states and countries, which has ramifications for predicting the future of antibiotic resistance, designing antibiotic resistance stewardship policy, and interpreting stewardship interventions.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antimicrobial Stewardship; Bacteria; Cross-Sectional Studies; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Europe; Hospitals; Humans; Streptococcus pneumoniae; United States
PubMed: 33139558
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2013694117 -
Journal of Exposure Science &... Jan 2020The indoor environment is an important source of microbial exposures for its human occupants. While we naturally want to favor positive health outcomes, built... (Review)
Review
The indoor environment is an important source of microbial exposures for its human occupants. While we naturally want to favor positive health outcomes, built environment design and operation may counter-intuitively favor negative health outcomes, particularly with regard to antibiotic resistance. Indoor environments contain microbes from both human and non-human origins, providing a unique venue for microbial interactions, including horizontal gene transfer. Furthermore, stressors present in the built environment could favor the exchange of genetic material in general and the retention of antibiotic resistance genes in particular. Intrinsic and acquired antibiotic resistance both pose a potential threat to human health; these phenomena need to be considered and controlled separately. The presence of both environmental and human-associated microbes, along with their associated antibiotic resistance genes, in the face of stressors, including antimicrobial chemicals, creates a unique opportunity for the undesirable spread of antibiotic resistance. In this review, we summarize studies and findings related to various interactions between human-associated bacteria, environmental bacteria, and built environment conditions, and particularly their relation to antibiotic resistance, aiming to guide "healthy" building design.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacteria; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Ecology; Gene Transfer, Horizontal; Humans
PubMed: 31591493
DOI: 10.1038/s41370-019-0171-0