Bacteriophage and Antimicrobial Resistance

Abstract

The antibiotic resistance crisis is considered one of the world’s major health threats. The use of antibiotic growth-promoters (AGPs) in animal agriculture over the last 70 years has been implicated in the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria that cause common infections. Many studies and researchers have proposed bacteriophages as alternatives for AGPs to help maintain current animal production. The mechanisms that caused the spread of antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria occur through the gene transfer process of plasmid mediated conjugation and by phage-mediated transduction. Many studies have confirmed that phages have contributed to horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of AMR genes and virulence factors from other bacteria and would also integrate into human and animal biomes with unknown effect. This chapter will explore the complicated relationship between animal environmental factors and describe the significant role bacteriophages have played in development of AMR via HGT. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an updated overview on the use of antimicrobial agents in livestock, the pitfalls of using AGPs, and the role of bacteriophages in horizontal gene transfer between animals and humans. We wish to further expand current knowledge on the effects to both human health and animal production of using bacteriophages in animal therapy or environmental biocontrol to reduce AMR in the livestock reservoir. We also describe factors that will need consideration should we seek to overcome these obstacles in order to employ bacteriophages as an alternative or supplement to antibiotics in various applications.