Antibiotic Resistance Of Bacteria A Growing Threat For Animals And Public Health

The major aspect of the consequences of antibiotic resistance usually concerns people. The animals are often seen as a source of pathogens or resistance genes implying a potential risk of their transmission to humans and thereby a potential hazard on public health. Despite the fact that transmission of resistant pathogens from animals to humans is possible we must also recognize that the animals for veterinarians are patients, which suffer from different bacterial infections, and require antibiotic treatment. Similarly to human infections, loss of effective therapy causes suffering for the affected animals, negative emotional and social effects on their owners, economic losses, and subsequently contributes to social costs. Infections in humans and animals with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP), as well as with multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria have rapidly emerged worldwide. Most of these bacteria, usually in a high density, inhabit the respective body compartments of animal and human hosts and are in close contact with each other. In such conditions genetic material can be transmitted between different bacteria, often belonging to phylogenetically distant taxons. Staphylococci harbor a wide variety of resistance genes and resistance-mediating mutations. Many of them are located on the same plasmid or SCCmec cassette. MRSP originates from animal reservoirs. It is a major cause of infections in dogs, also posing a zoonotic risk to humans. However, the transmission of this species is limited. The population of MRSP is highly diverse and include several clonal complexes (CCs) usually exhibiting specific antimicrobial resistance phenotypes. Increasing antimicrobial resistance among Gram-negative rods is also a grooving issue in veterinary medicine. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a common problem in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Acinetobacter spp. and many others. ESBL/AmpC producing E. coli strains are found both in companion and food-producing animals as well as in food of animal origin. Reports of carbapenemase-producing bacteria in companion animals include E. coli Klebsiella pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. In a single case, the carbapenemase VIM-1 producing strains of Salmonella Infantis and E. coli were recovered from diseased piglet and fattening pigs, respectively.

1. Introduction. 2. Problems of antibiotic therapy in animals. 3. Antibiotic resistance of staphylococci. 4. Antibiotic resistance of selected Gram-negative rods. 5. Data from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). 6. Concluding remarks