Abstract

ACEVEDO BARRIOS, Rosa Leonor; SEVERICHE SIERRA, Carlos Alberto  and  JAIMES MORALES, José Del Carmen. Antibiotic resistant bacteria in aqueous ecosystems. Rev. P+L [online]. 2015, vol.10, n.2, pp.160-172. ISSN 1909-0455.

In this revision the subject of antibiotic resistant bacteria in aqueous ecosystems is analyzed in detail, characterizing the outlook of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. A discussion on the dissemination of antibiotics in the environment is made, studying the sources of antibiotics in aqueous ecosystems and, finally, the environmental effects of antibiotic resistant bacteria contamination are analyzed. Antibiotics are probably the most successful family of drugs developed to improve human health by preventing and treating infections, but their worldwide use and sale reveal that, in general, there is a systematic failure in data to achieve an effective intervention and the proposition of strategies against the environmental problems brought by antibiotic resistant bacteria. Besides, there is a close relationship between the remains of antibiotics in ecosystems and the increase of antibiotic resistant bacteria, but at the moment the information available is not enough to achieve a definite conclusion concerning the importance and the impact of the presence of such bacteria in aqueous environments that allow the assessment of their potential hazardousness in the ecosystems and for human health. The hypothesis that the use of antibiotics for purposes different than antibiotic therapy can increase the population of antibiotic resistant bacteria able to affect human beings and the biota in general, is also proposed.

Keywords : contamination; drugs; health; toxicology.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )