Antibiotic resistance genes from livestock waste: occurrence, dissemination, and treatment

Abstract Antibiotics are widely used in animal husbandry, and various types of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are frequently detected in livestock waste around the world. Conventional livestock waste treatment processes do not completely remove ARGs, resulting in their release to soil and water environments. Various exposure routes of these ARGs to humans, including inhalation and ingestion of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) that harbor them, may be contributing to the rise in resistant clinical infections that are increasingly difficult to treat with antibiotics. In this review, we assess the occurrence and variability of ARGs in livestock wastes and their potential propagation pathways to human…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 1545756, OISE:1545756, 1820015
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Award: 51608260
• SK
  State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse
• OO
  Office of International Science and Engineering

  Awards: OISE:1545756, 1545756