A One Health Approach to Antibiotic Resistance.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics continues to pose a serious threat to human and animal health.  While antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) can be found in areas obviously impacted by the use of antibiotics, they can also be found in areas with little to no clear anthropogenic influence and in samples that predate the use of human-produced antibiotics.  There exists a complex web of possible pressures affecting ARB and ARG, but the real challenge is determining which natural and anthropogenic disturbances are making the greatest contribution to their emergence, amplification, persistence and dissemination.  ARB and ARG are disseminated into the environment from a multitude of sources; antibiotic metabolites with varying levels of biological activity are also being disseminated through these processes, and therefore the potential exists for these compounds to increase the levels of ARB and ARG above the amounts being introduced into the environment.  Management options are being explored for reducing these risks of environmental contamination, but none of the available options will be easy or inexpensive to employ.  The impact of the environmental dissemination of ARB, ARG and antibiotic metabolites on human and animal health is unclear, due in large part to the challenges of linking negative health outcomes to environmental observations. This presentation will focus on the need for a “One Health” approach in the design of strategies to mitigate the potential risks associated with ARB and ARG in the environment.