Antibiotic resistance in the absence of antimicrobial use: mechanisms and implications.
The selective pressure generated by the use of antibiotics in clinical, veterinary, husbandry and agricultural practices is considered the major factor responsible for the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria since the beginning of the antibiotic era. However, recent studies have consistently demonstrated that acquired resistance traits can also be found in bacteria isolated from humans and wild animals not subjected to significant antibiotic exposure and living in remote areas of the planet. The scope of this article is to review and discuss the current knowledge on this intriguing phenomenon, which underscores the complexity of the mechanisms involved in the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance and bears some relevant implications to the design and success of resistance-control strategies.
Pallecchi
Lucia
L
Università di Siena, Dipartimento di Biologia Molecolare, Sezione di Microbiologia, Policlinico Santa Maria alle Scotte, Siena, Italy. pallecchi@unisi.it
Bartoloni
Alessandro
A
Paradisi
Franco
F
Rossolini
Gian Maria
GM
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000382:microbiology*; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics