Reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes.
A potential concern about the use of antibiotics in animal husbundary is that, as antibiotic resistant bacteria move from the farm into the human diet, they may pass antibiotic resistance genes to bacteria that normally reside in a the human intestinal tract and from there to bacteria that cause human disease (reservoir hypothesis). In this article various approaches to evaluating the risk of agricultural use of antibiotics are assessed critically. In addition, the potential benefits of applying new technology and using new insights from the field of microbial ecology are explained.
Salyers
Abigail
A
Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
Shoemaker
Nadja B
NB
D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003106:Colon / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents