Implications of bacteriophages on the acquisition and spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment
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REVIEW
Implications of bacteriophages on the acquisition and spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment José Luis Balcázar 1,2 Received: 16 July 2019 / Revised: 30 December 2019 / Accepted: 21 January 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Although bacteriophages (or simply phages) are the most abundant biological entities and have the potential to transfer genetic material between bacterial hosts, their contribution to the acquisition and spread of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment has not been extensively studied. The environment is continually exposed to a wide variety of pollutants from anthropogenic sources, which may promote horizontal gene transfer events, including those mediated by phages. Considering the significant and growing concern of antibiotic resistance, phages should be taken into consideration during the implementation of mitigation measures. This review is focused on the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment, with a special emphasis on the role of phages. Keywords Antibiotic resistance . Bacteriophages . Environmental settings
Introduction The discovery of antibiotics has been one of the most important achievements of the twentieth century, and millions of human lives have been saved since the 1940s when the first antibiotics, such as penicillin and sulfonamides, were introduced into medicine for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. In addition, the effectiveness of antibiotics to control bacterial infections meant that they were quickly introduced into the veterinary and agricultural sector, including as growth promoters. Since their introduction, millions of tons of antibiotics have been produced and used for a wide variety of purposes. Unfortunately, the growing dependence on these agents has had consequences. According to recent data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization, every year, approximately 25,000 people in Europe die from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria (http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/), rising to more than 700,000 people globally (https://www. who.int/). Moreover, a recent report suggests that antibiotic
* José Luis Balcázar [email protected] 1
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), 17003 Girona, Spain
2
University of Girona, 17004 Girona, Spain
resistance could cause 10 million deaths a year by 2050 if no action is taken (https://amr-review.org/). Antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon, which has been accelerated due to the selective pressure exercised by the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. In fact, the success of antibiotics led to the enthusiastic discovery of new classes, peaking during the 1950s–1970s. However, the rate of discovery of new antibiotics has steadily decreased over the last years, because resistant bacteria have emerged within a few years of the discovery of every new antibiotic (Livermore et al. 2011; Rolain et al. 2016). This represents a serious and growing global public health concern due t
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