Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in the Environment as Bio-Indicators of Pollution

James R Paulson,Saif N Al-Bahry,Ibrahim Y Mahmoud,Salma K Al-Musharafi

doi:10.2174/1874070701610010342

Abstract

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.

Highlights

The word “antibiotic” was coined by Waksman in 1947 [1] to describe organic compounds produced by microorganisms that inhibit the growth of other microorganisms: bacteria, fungi or protozoa
Approaches to curtail the spread of multiple-antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment are similar to the steps that are needed to deal with other forms of pollution
Better practices and more stringent regulations will be required to manage the usage of antibiotics and to stop the emergence and dissemination of multiple-antibiotic resistant bacteria (MARB) [12, 16, 18, 54]

Summary

Introduction

The word “antibiotic” was coined by Waksman in 1947 [1] to describe organic compounds produced by microorganisms that inhibit the growth of other microorganisms: bacteria, fungi or protozoa. The term is generally used (and will be used here) to refer to anti-bacterial substances. It includes synthetic and semisynthetic compounds as well as natural products. The era of antibiotics began with the discoveries of Salvarsan (effective against syphilis) in 1909, penicillin in 1929 and sulfa drugs in the 1930s [2]. Penicillin, first mass-produced during World War II, was the first drug to be effective against common, but very serious, infections such as Streptococcus and Staphylococcus. Many new classes of antibacterial compounds were found during the “golden age” of antibiotics from about 1950-1970 [2] and they have clearly been very important tools for fighting bacterial infections

Objectives

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Conclusion