Abstract
Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) have become contaminants of concern in environmental systems. Studies investigating environmental ARB have primarily focused on environments that are greatly impacted by anthropogenic activity. Background concentrations of ARB in natural environments is not well understood. This review summarizes the current literature on the monitoring of ARB and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in environments less impacted by human activity. Both ARB and ARGs have been detected on the Antarctic continent, on isolated glaciers, and in remote alpine environments. The methods for detecting and quantifying ARB and ARGs from the environment are not standardized and warrant optimization. Further research should be focused on the detection and quantification of ARB and ARGs along human gradients to better characterize the factors leading to their dissemination in remote environments.
Highlights
The presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) in the environment are commonly associated with hospitals and their frequent use and disposal of antibiotics [1]
This review demonstrates that ARB and antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) can be detected in a multitude of environments and environmental media across the globe
While the argument has previously been made that no place on Earth can be considered “pristine”, multiple studies have demonstrated the associations between human activities with the presence and abundance of ARB/ARGs [17,21,34,36,38]
Summary
The presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) in the environment are commonly associated with hospitals and their frequent use and disposal of antibiotics [1]. The antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) within ARB can proliferate through environments due to persistent human activity and the perpetuation of the genes by horizontal gene transfer and vertical inheritance [3]. These ARGs can establish reservoirs in the environment near human activities such as wastewater treatment plants, agricultural operations, and hospitals [4]. Numerous studies have been focused on the presence of ARB or ARGs in environments with repeated or close human contact, such as wastewater effluent and animal agriculture settings [2,4,5]
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