Antibiotics and Environment − Research and Development toward the One Health Approach

Dear Colleagues,

Research on health and environmental risk assessments and countermeasures against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are ongoing across the globe. The spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is causing increasing concern about the future of antimicrobial use and other measures to control infectious diseases, and the problem of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is now considered an important issue that requires urgent countermeasures and effective action by the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition to clinical cases, community-acquired infections caused by healthy carriers and outbreaks of antimicrobial-resistant strains originating from livestock, fisheries, and other industries are also becoming problematic. It is essential to comprehensively understand the trend of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria on a global scale, and a one health approach is desired to combat all of these problems.

The problem of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in the environment manifests itself in a wide variety of systems originating from humans and animals, which occur simultaneously in a complex mixture of these systems. Assessing the present situation, clarifying the occurrence and fate in the environment, assessing environmental risks, and taking effective measures to reduce or mitigate risks are methods that can provide useful knowledge for finding a point of coexistence between modern, affluent lifestyles and sustainable human prosperity.

In this Special Issue, on the topics of antimicrobials and the environment or antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and antimicrobials in the environment, intends to focus on broad environmental spaces, including rivers, lakes, marine areas, water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants, and animal and livestock facilities. We invite research papers on the current situations of occurrence and dynamics, and purification methods that could be effective for reducing or mitigating human and animal health risks. This Special Issue also calls for review articles that propose the development of analytical methods based on novel approaches, summarize past research cases, and propose future measures to combat antimicrobial-resistant bacteria through the one health approach.

Dr. Takashi Azuma
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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