Risks and Current Knowledge of Antimicrobial Resistance in Companion Animals
A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Antibiotics in Animal Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 2403
Special Issue Editors
Interests: antimicrobial peptides synthesized by the ribsomal pathway (bacteriocins); probiotics; microbial ecology; alternatives to antibiotics; antibiotic resistance; animal health; food bioconservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the global overview of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), several efforts have been made to better understand and control its spread in livestock animals, because a major proportion of veterinary antibiotics (in Europe, around 90-95%) is used on them. But in recent years, following the One Health approach, companion animals (mainly dogs and cats) have also been receiving more and more attention. The evidence of the transmission of AMR bacteria, genes, and genetic mobile elements has been described by multiple studies, and their role in AMR dynamics is increasing in importance for four main reasons: first, their increasing presence in family households, especially in high-income countries; second, the more frequent direct contact they have with humans compared with livestock or wildlife; third, the frequent use of the same antibiotics for the same pathologies, with an enhanced opportunity to develop the same resistances; and fourth, the risk of bidirectional transmission, not only animal-to-human but also human-to-animal (reverse zoonosis), with a major risk of developing infections not treatable with drugs licensed for companion animals, and their potential emergence as maintenance reservoirs of AMR.
This Special Issue aims to better investigate the current evidence and future perspectives of the real role occupied by companion animals in global AMR epidemiology.
Prof. Dr. Djamel Drider
Guest Editor
Dr. Raffaele Scarpellini
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- antimicrobial resistance
- companion animals
- dogs
- cats
- clinically important antibiotics
- One Health
- reverse zoonosis
- zoonosis
- AMR epidemiology
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
