Of Animal and Men: The Importance of Animal Environment to Antimicrobial Resistance: A One Health Approach

Abstract

The contribution of the animal environments to the worsening of the global antimicrobial resistance framework is related to the use of antimicrobials in subtherapeutic doses and, for long periods, establishing ideal conditions for the circulation of resistance genes, which can be transmitted to pathogens adapted to the human microbiota. The study of the animal environment as conducive to the acceleration of resistance evolution is an emerging and critical area for understanding the development and dissemination of resistance genes among the circulating bacteria. The connection between people, animals, and the environ- ment allows us to consider antimicrobial resistance in an approach within the “One Health” concept, which provides a global strategy for expanding collaboration and interdisciplinary communication. This chapter will highlight the emergence of colistin resistance, a great challenge in antimicrobial resistance field. Also, it will focus on some agents included in the priority list of superbugs of the World Health Organization (WHO) or correlated species already identified in veterinary medicine, such as the critical superbugs; priority level 1, Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and ESBL- producing Carbapenemic-resistant Enterobacteriaceae; and the high-priority, level 2, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).