Assessing the Risk of Antibiotic Resistance Transmission from the Environment to Humans: Non-Direct Proportionality between Abundance and Risk

• Published in: Trends in microbiology (Regular ed.) Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 173 - 181
• Main Author: Manaia, Célia M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2017; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Abundance; Anthropogenic factors; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Bacteria - drug effects; Bacteria - genetics; Bacterial Infections - drug therapy; Bacterial Infections - microbiology; Bacterial Infections - transmission; contaminant resistome; Contaminants; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Bacterial - genetics; Ecological risk assessment; Environment; Gastrointestinal Microbiome - drug effects; Gastrointestinal Microbiome - genetics; Gene Transfer, Horizontal - genetics; Human body; Human influences; Humans; infective dose; Internal Medicine; limit of quantification; Models, Theoretical; Precautionary principle; Risk; Studies; vector bacteria; vector bacteria; contaminant resistome; infective dose; limit of quantification
• ISSN: 0966-842X; 1878-4380
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2016.11.014

The past decade has witnessed a burst of study regarding antibiotic resistance in the environment, mainly in areas under anthropogenic influence. Therefore, impacts of the contaminant resistome, that is, those related to human activities, are now recognized. However, a key issue refers to the risk of transmission of resistance to humans, for which a quantitative model is urgently needed. This opinion paper makes an overview of some risk-determinant variables and raises questions regarding research needs. A major conclusion is that the risks of transmission of antibiotic resistance from the environment to humans must be managed under the precautionary principle, because it may be too late to act if we wait until we have concrete risk values.