scholarly journals Where future emerging pathogens will come from and what approaches can be used to find them, besides VFARs

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (S1) ◽  
pp. S75-S93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark D. Sobsey ◽  
Suresh D. Pillai

A consideration of available evidence for some known and well-characterized waterborne pathogens suggests that the diversity of pathogen virulence mechanisms and properties is too great to specifically predict the emergence and future human health impacts of new waterborne pathogens. However, some future emerging pathogens are existing microbes that will be discovered to cause disease. Some will arise from existing ones by either predictable evolutionary and adaptation changes or by unpredictable changes involving a variety of biotic and abiotic mechanisms. Many, and perhaps most, emerging waterborne human pathogens will be zoonotic agents or come from other non-human reservoirs. The emergence of some waterborne pathogens will be related to antibiotic use, resulting in emerging antibiotic-resistant waterborne pathogens. Reliably predicting pathogen emergence and human health effects based on VFARs or other properties of microbes and their hosts is not possible at this time. This is because of (1) the diversity of microbes and their virulence and pathogenicity properties, (2) their ability to change unpredictably, (3) their intimate and diverse interrelationships with a myriad of hosts and dynamic natural and anthropogenic environments and (4) the subtle variations in the immune status of individuals. The best available approach to predicting waterborne pathogen emergence is through vigilant use of microbial, infectious disease and epidemiological surveillance. Understanding the microbial metagenome of the human body can also lead to a better understanding of how we define and characterize pathogens, commensals and opportunists.

2018 ◽  
Vol 243 (6) ◽  
pp. 538-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan P Coussens ◽  
Ashley L Molinaro ◽  
Kayla J Culbertson ◽  
Tyler Peryea ◽  
Gergely Zahoránszky-Köhalmi ◽  
...  

The increasing emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is recognized as a major threat to human health worldwide. While the use of small molecule antibiotics has enabled many modern medical advances, it has also facilitated the development of resistant organisms. This minireview provides an overview of current small molecule drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in humans, the unintended consequences of antibiotic use, and the mechanisms that underlie the development of drug resistance. Promising new approaches and strategies to counter antibiotic-resistant bacteria with small molecules are highlighted. However, continued public investment in this area is critical to maintain an edge in our evolutionary “arms race” against antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. Impact statement The alarming increase in antibiotic-resistant microorganisms is a rapidly emerging threat to human health throughout the world. Historically, small molecule drugs have played a major role in controlling bacterial infections and they continue to offer tremendous potential in countering resistant organisms. This minireview provides a broad overview of the relevant issues, including the diversity of FDA-approved small molecule drugs and mechanisms of drug resistance, unintended consequences of antibiotic use, the current state of development for small molecule antibacterials and financial challenges that impact progress towards novel therapies. The content will be informative to diverse stakeholders, including clinicians, basic scientists, translational scientists and policy makers, and may be used as a bridge between these key players to advance the development of much-needed therapeutics.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Hernando-Amado ◽  
Fernando Sanz-García ◽  
Paula Blanco ◽  
José L. Martínez

Acquisition of antibiotic resistance is a relevant problem for human health. The selection and spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms not only compromise the treatment of infectious diseases, but also the implementation of different therapeutic procedures as organ transplantation, advanced surgery or chemotherapy, all of which require proficient methods for avoiding infections. It has been generally accepted that the acquisition of antibiotic resistance will produce a general metabolic burden: in the absence of selection, the resistant organisms would be outcompeted by the susceptible ones. If that was always true, discontinuation of antibiotic use would render the disappearance of resistant microorganisms. However, several studies have shown that, once resistance emerges, the recovery of a fully susceptible population even in the absence of antibiotics is not easy. In the present study, we review updated information on the effect of the acquisition of antibiotic resistance in bacterial physiology as well as on the mechanisms that allow the compensation of the fitness costs associated with the acquisition of resistance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4A) ◽  
pp. 167-174
Author(s):  
Do Huu Hoang

In the last three decades aquaculture is a rapidly developing sector worldwide and antibiotics are used popularly as growth promoter. Antibiotic use was banned because research proved that antibiotic has caused many effects on environment and human health. Therefore, finding antibiotic alternatives is the first priority. The most prospect products today are probiotic and prebiotic. β-glucan is one of the immunostimulants which showed a variety of benefits to the health of many aquaculture species. In this paper only the results of β-glucan, a kind of prebiotic supplied in aquaculture, were summarized. The major benefit of β-glucan are to boost growth, to reduce mortality, to enhance tolerance or stress resistance to environmental or pathogen challenges. Although the applications of β-glucan are popular worldwide, its use in aquaculture in Vietnam is still limited. This paper provides an important reference for β-glucan utilisation which may help to develop a sustainable aquaculture in Vietnam.


Author(s):  
Ana Rita Almeida ◽  
Marta Tacão ◽  
Joana Soares ◽  
Inês Domingues ◽  
Isabel Henriques

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens due to worldwide antibiotic use is raising concern in several settings, including aquaculture. In this work, the selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was evaluated after exposure of zebrafish to oxytetracycline (OTC) for two months, followed by a recovery period. The selection of ARB in water and fish was determined using selective media. The abundance of tetA genes was estimated through qPCR. Higher prevalence of ARB was measured in all samples exposed to the antibiotic when compared to control samples, although statistical significance was only achieved five days after exposure. Isolates recovered from samples exposed to the antibiotic were affiliated with Pseudomonas and Stenotrophomonas. Various antibiotic susceptibility profiles were detected and 37% of the isolates displayed multidrug resistance (MDR). The selection of the tetA gene was confirmed by qPCR at the highest OTC concentration tested. Two MDR isolates, tested using zebrafish embryos, caused significant mortality, indicating a potential impact on fish health and survival. Overall, our work highlights the potential impact of antibiotic contamination in the selection of potential pathogenic ARB and ARGS.


Author(s):  
Dana Trevas ◽  
Angela M Caliendo ◽  
Kimberly Hanson ◽  
Jaclyn Levy ◽  
Christine C Ginocchio

Abstract Uptake of existing diagnostics to identify infections more accurately could minimize unnecessary antibiotic use and decrease the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) agree that, to improve uptake of existing diagnostics, healthcare providers, health systems, and payors all need better clinical and economic outcomes data to support use of diagnostic tests over empiric use of antibiotics, providers need better tools and education about diagnostic tests, and diagnostics developers need federal funding in the absence of a viable diagnostics market. Recommendations from PACCARB and the IDSA are amplified. Incentives for—and challenges to—diagnostics research, development, and uptake are summarized. Advocacy opportunities are given for infectious disease professionals to join the fight against antimicrobial resistance.


Author(s):  
PA Ganichev

Introduction: Polymer products have become inexpensive, convenient and widely used in all spheres of everyday life recently. Microplastics are found in seawater, wastewater, fresh water, foodstuffs, and air. Over the past few years, the presence of microplastics in treated tap and bottled water has been reported, raising questions and concerns about their potential human health effects. Objective: To summarize and systematize the results of studying health effects of exposure to microplastics in potable water. Materials and methods: A literature review was done based on ten topical articles and reviews published in 2014–2021 out of 64 sources found in the PubMed and Scopus international databases and the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI). Results and conclusions: Generalization and systematization of the published research data demonstrated the lack of strong evidence to draw conclusions about human health effects of microplastics. Information on toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of ingested microplastic particles is absent just like the studies of the most common shapes and sizes of plastic particles and health risks from exposure to such particles in drinking water.


Author(s):  
Alla Nikolaevna Kaira ◽  
Vyacheslav Fedorovich Lavrov ◽  
Oksana Anatolievna Svitich

Typhoid fever is still an urgent infection, especially in countries where the majority of the population lives below the poverty line, with limited resources, and without the ability to comply with basic hygiene rules. About 11 million cases of typhoid fever are registered worldwide every year, and about 400 people die from this infection every day. The global development of international relations activates migration processes, tourism, and provides rapid movement of significant masses of people around the world, which makes the risk of widespread typhoid infection quite real. In recent years, due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of S. typhi, treatment of typhoid fever has become less effective. Natural disasters in the form of earthquakes and floods, man-made disasters, as well as military conflicts that occur in different parts of the world, are fertile «soil» for the emergence and spread of typhoid infection, which actualizes the implementation of appropriate prevention measures, including immunoprophylaxis of the disease. Despite the obvious success in the fight against typhoid fever, which consists in a significant reduction in cases of typhoid infection in the world, this dangerous infectious disease still remains an urgent problem, both for health authorities and the population of many countries. Children and young people are still ill, and there is a real risk of infection spreading to any country. Natural disasters pose a real threat of typhoid outbreaks and epidemics. Mass appearance of antibiotic-resistant strains of S. typhi significantly complicates the treatment of patients, dictates the need for constant monitoring of the pathogen’s resistance to antibiotics and the introduction of typhoid immunoprophylaxis for epidemic indications among professional risk groups, labor migrants, and tourists traveling to countries with typhoid-affected countries. There is also a need for reliable epidemiological surveillance of this infection, carried out on an ongoing basis.


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