The acquisition of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by human pathogens is one of the most serious current and developing threats to human health. The human microbiome is not an isolated system, strains are transmitted between hosts, and horizontal gene transfer will occur between strains, within hosts and in the environment. An individual microbiome receives a constant stream of immigrant strains from a metapopulation and is shared amongst related species. It is likely therefore that the widespread use of antibiotics will lead to Antimicrobial Resistance genes (ARGs), not just increasing in abundance amongst individuals that are directly exposed, but becoming endemic throughout the population, and this resistance then spreading throughout the microbiota. Researchers in this study conducted an extensive survey of ARGs in metagenomes, to determine the population-level impacts and demonstrate highly significant correlations between both the total ARG abundance and diversity and per capita antibiotic usage rates across ten countries spanning three continents.
Link to the article: rb.gy/u8kb
Published On: 30/03/2023
Correlation between median total abundance of ARGs deriving from different species types and antibiotic consumption rates.
