Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is a problem for human health, and consequently, its study had been traditionally focused toward its impact for the success of treating human infections in individual patients (individual health). Nevertheless, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes are not confined only to the infected patients. It is now generally accepted that the problem goes beyond humans, hospitals, or long-term facility settings and that it should be considered simultaneously in human-connected animals, farms, food, water, and natural ecosystems. In this regard, the health of humans, animals, and local antibiotic-resistance–polluted environments should influence the health of the whole interconnected local ecosystem (One Health). In addition, antibiotic resistance is also a global problem; any resistant microorganism (and its antibiotic resistance genes) could be distributed worldwide. Consequently, antibiotic resistance is a pandemic that requires Global Health solutions. Social norms, imposing individual and group behavior that favor global human health and in accordance with the increasingly collective awareness of the lack of human alienation from nature, will positively influence these solutions. In this regard, the problem of antibiotic resistance should be understood within the framework of socioeconomic and ecological efforts to ensure the sustainability of human development and the associated human–natural ecosystem interactions.
Highlights
The problem of antibiotic resistance (AR) has been traditionally addressed by focusing on humanlinked environments, typically health care facilities
The acceptance by the community of these social norms, considering that the way of promoting these norms might differ in different parts of the world (Cislaghi and Heise, 2018; Cislaghi and Heise, 2019), largely depends on the transfer to the society of the knowledge required to understand the mechanisms and the impact for human health of the emergence and transmission of AR, an information that is discussed below
The acquisition of an antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) by a clone may promote the expansion of the latter in antibiotic-rich environments, such as hospitals or farms (Martinez and Baquero, 2002; Schaufler et al, 2016), and vice versa, the introduction of an ARG in an already successful clone may increase the chances of this resistance gene for its dissemination even in environments without antibiotics, unless the associated fitness costs are high
Summary
The problem of antibiotic resistance (AR) has been traditionally addressed by focusing on humanlinked environments, typically health care facilities. The efficiency of democracy for responding to social crisis (as current AR or COVID-19 crises), in opposition to other more autocratic regimens where decisions are implemented top-down, had been the subject of debate from the early beginning of democratic revolutions (Tocqueville, 1838; Hobbes, 1968; Rousseau, 1974; Spinoza, 2007) In this regard, it is important to remark that One Health aspects of AR can be tackled in the basis of countrylevel regulations that are linked to the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of each country (Chandler, 2019; Chokshi et al, 2019). The acceptance by the community of these social norms, considering that the way of promoting these norms might differ in different parts of the world (Cislaghi and Heise, 2018; Cislaghi and Heise, 2019), largely depends on the transfer to the society of the knowledge required to understand the mechanisms and the impact for human health of the emergence and transmission of AR, an information that is discussed below
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
