Antimicrobials and Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment

Dear Colleagues,

Antimicrobial resistance, especially antibiotic resistance, is considered one of the major challenges to global public health. A key driver for the development of antimicrobial/antibiotic resistance is exposure of microbes/bacteria to antimicrobials/antibiotics/metals. Very low levels of residue concentrations, that are often present in the environment, are sufficient to trigger resistance development. A One health perspective, i.e. seeing humans, animals and the environment as interconnected is essential for managing the antimicrobial/antibiotic resistance challenge. Involvement of antimicrobial/antibiotic residues/resistance in the environment should be a critical component of the One health approach. Antimicrobial spread in the environment results from the waste from the whole chain of events, from production to sales to utilization and excretion in metabolized or un-metabolized form after use. Much still needs to be known about the qualitative and quantitative spread of antimicrobial/antibiotic residues and resistance in the environment, the consequences of this spread, particularly the transfer of resistant bacteria and/or resistance genes from environmental microbes and commensals to pathogens infecting humans and/or animals. Even more important is to find implementable solutions to reduce the spread of antimicrobials/antibiotic residues and antimicrobial/antibiotic resistance and resistance markers in and from the environment.

This Special Issue seeks research papers on various aspects of antimicrobial/antibiotic residues, antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in the environment and their remediation from the environment. Especially we encourage the submission of interdisciplinary work and multi-country collaborative research. We also encourage the submission of health systems and health policy-related manuscripts that focus on issues related to antimicrobial/antibiotic residues/resistance in the environment and the remediation aspect of it. We welcome original research papers using different study designs as well as systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Prof. Cecilia StålsbyLundborg
Dr. Ashok J. Tamhankar
Guest Editors

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