Abstract
Background and aim Antibiotic resistance entails a major threat to global health. Exposure to antibiotics and bacteria, potentially increases risks for workers in environments with high and prolonged exposure. The objective of this review is to assess the occupational risk of antibiotic resistance in high risk occupations. Methods This systematic literature reviews selected articles in MEDLINE (September 1964 - October 2021) and Embase (March 1988 - October 2021). Duplicates, articles without abstracts and non-English articles were removed before screening. Articles not related to antibiotic resistance and high-risk occupations, were excluded. Besides the medical sector, animal husbandry including aquaculture was considered as high risk. Animal husbandry here includes aquaculture and poultry farming, besides livestock farming such as pig and kettle farming and occupations were defined according to ISCO-08. Included articles were analyzed on occupations, methodology, bacteria, resistance and location. Results 117 Articles were found eligible for final analysis of the abovementioned risks, which is limited. Current research has a strong focus on the medical sector, with 80 articles describing the medical sector in general and a majority focusing on workers in hospital settings (over 60%) and around 70% of these articles focus on MRSA or Tuberculosis. 44 Studies were related to animal husbandry, with a strong focus on especially pig farming and abattoir workers (over 54%). MRSA was the predominant focus of the articles (52%) followed by S. Aureus (19%). With one study research on aquaculture is scarce. Conclusions The risks of antibiotic resistance in animal husbandry and more specifically aquaculture, seems to be neglected in current research. To truly address the issue of antibiotic resistance as a one health issue, other sectors need to be explored with integrated nationwide surveillance and specific occupational risk assessments. Keywords: AMR, antibiotic resistance, One Health, bacterial infections, occupational risk, animal husbandry, aquafarming.
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