How does the environment contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance? This is the central question addressed in a new article published in Médecine/Sciences, entitled “The environment’s contribution to the spread of antibiotic resistance” Authored by Yolanda Elisabet Gonzalez-Flores, Didier Hocquet and Christophe Dagot, the article examines the role of soil and water in the circulation of bacterial resistance.
Although antibiotic resistance is an ancient natural phenomenon, human activities are contributing to its amplification today. The environment can therefore act as a reservoir, an amplification site and a vector for resistance genes. The presence of antibiotics, as well as heavy metals and biocides in natural environments, can promote the selection and spread of these resistances.
The authors also highlight the current limitations of environmental surveillance: internationally available data remain scarce and heterogeneous. Harmonizing sampling and analytical methods is therefore essential to enable comparisons between regions and countries and to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the dissemination of antibiotic resistance.
This publication also highlights the collective work carried out by PROMISE, of which the authors are members. In particular, through the AMR-Env network, developed within the meta-network, PROMISE contributes to structuring research and surveillance on environmental antibiotic resistance by fostering the sharing of expertise and the harmonization of approaches.
This publication therefore provides a concrete illustration of the value of a collective and cross-sectoral approach: improving our understanding of antibiotic resistance in the environment in order to better anticipate and limit its spread across ecosystems, animals and human populations.