Antibiotic Pollution and Environmental Antimicrobial Resistance: Resistomes, Gene Transfer and One Health Implications
Author
Thatipamula Renuka, Gaddam Sahithi, Erukala Bhanuprasad, G. Swetha, Nishat Fathima
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is conventionally framed as a clinical problem, yet its evolutionary origins and many of its transmission routes lie in the environment. Antibiotics are released into soils, rivers, sediments, and coastal waters through human and veterinary excretion, inadequately treated municipal and hospital wastewater, manure application, aquaculture, and discharges from drug manufacturing. These emissions, together with co-pollutants such as metals and biocides, exert selective pressure on microbial communities and enrich antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in environmental reservoirs collectively termed the environmental resistome. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), mediated by plasmids, integrons, transposons, integrative and conjugative elements, and bacteriophages, connects these reservoirs with human and animal pathogens. This review synthesizes current evidence on the sources and fate of antibiotic pollution, the composition and origins of environmental resistomes, the mechanisms and environmental modulators of gene transfer, and the implications for human, animal, and ecosystem health within a One Health framework. It also evaluates risk assessment concepts and mitigation options, including manufacturing effluent controls, advanced wastewater treatment, stewardship in agriculture, sanitation, and integrated surveillance. Pharmacologists are well placed to contribute to this agenda by linking pharmacokinetics, excretion, environmental concentration thresholds, and stewardship. Key knowledge gaps remain in quantifying transmission risk, defining enforceable environmental concentration limits, and standardizing surveillance.
Keywords
antimicrobial resistance; antibiotic pollution; resistome; horizontal gene transfer; mobile genetic elements; wastewater; One Health
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References
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