Selection of resistant bacteria at very low antibiotic concentrations.
Erik Gullberg,Sha Cao,Otto G. Berg,Carolina Ilbäck,Linus Sandegren,Diarmaid Hughes,Dan I. Andersson +6 more
TLDR
It is suggested that the low antibiotic concentrations found in many natural environments are important for enrichment and maintenance of resistance in bacterial populations.Abstract:
The widespread use of antibiotics is selecting for a variety of resistance mechanisms that seriously challenge our ability to treat bacterial infections. Resistant bacteria can be selected at the high concentrations of antibiotics used therapeutically, but what role the much lower antibiotic concentrations present in many environments plays in selection remains largely unclear. Here we show using highly sensitive competition experiments that selection of resistant bacteria occurs at extremely low antibiotic concentrations. Thus, for three clinically important antibiotics, drug concentrations up to several hundred-fold below the minimal inhibitory concentration of susceptible bacteria could enrich for resistant bacteria, even when present at a very low initial fraction. We also show that de novo mutants can be selected at sub-MIC concentrations of antibiotics, and we provide a mathematical model predicting how rapidly such mutants would take over in a susceptible population. These results add another dimension to the evolution of resistance and suggest that the low antibiotic concentrations found in many natural environments are important for enrichment and maintenance of resistance in bacterial populations.read more
Citations
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Urban wastewater effluent increases antibiotic resistance gene concentrations in a receiving northern European river.
TL;DR: The measured concentrations of antibiotics were low in the water samples from the Stångån River, suggesting that selection for ARGs did not occur in the surface water, and the downstream increase in ARGs is likely to be attributable to accumulation of genes present in the treated effluent discharged from the WWTP.
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Uptake of antibiotics from irrigation water by plants
David Azanu,Christiana Mortey,Godfred Darko,Johan Juhl Weisser,Bjarne Styrishave,Robert C. Abaidoo +5 more
TL;DR: The capacity of carrot and lettuce to uptake tetracycline and amoxicillin from irrigated water was investigated to assess the indirect human exposure to antibiotics through consumption of uncooked vegetables and suggests that the low antibiotic concentrations found in plants could be important for causing antibiotics resistance when these levels are consumed.
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Water Disinfection Byproducts Induce Antibiotic Resistance-Role of Environmental Pollutants in Resistance Phenomena
TL;DR: Two common water disinfection byproducts (chlorite and iodoacetic acid) had antibiotic-like effects that led to the evolution of resistant E. coli strains under both high (near MICs) and low (sub-MIC) exposure concentrations.
Development of the First Watch List under the Environmental Quality Standards Directive
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the procedure to identify a short-list of substances based on the suspected risk to or via the aquatic environment, as well as on the unavailability of sufficient monitoring data or data of sufficient quality to identify the risk posed by those substances, and to prioritise them at EU level.
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Antibiotics in Wastewater of a Rural and an Urban Hospital before and after Wastewater Treatment, and the Relationship with Antibiotic Use-A One Year Study from Vietnam.
La Thi Quynh Lien,La Thi Quynh Lien,Nguyen Quynh Hoa,Nguyen Thi Kim Chuc,Nguyen Thi Minh Thoa,Ho Dang Phuc,Vishal Diwan,Nguyen Thanh Dat,Ashok J. Tamhankar,Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg +9 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the relationship between antibiotic concentrations in wastewater before wastewater treatment and quantities of antibiotics used in the rural hospital, over a period of one year in 2013, and find that significant concentrations of antibiotics were present in the wastewater both before and after wastewater treatment of both the rural and the urban hospital.
References
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Antibiotic resistance and its cost: is it possible to reverse resistance?
Dan I. Andersson,Diarmaid Hughes +1 more
TL;DR: The findings suggest that the fitness costs of resistance will allow susceptible bacteria to outcompete resistant bacteria if the selective pressure from antibiotics is reduced, and that the rate of reversibility will be slow at the community level.
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