Departamento de Biotecnología Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, and CIBERESP, Spain.
Environ Pollut. 2009 Nov;157(11):2893-902. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2009.05.051. Epub 2009 Jun 27.
Antibiotics are among the most successful drugs used for human therapy. However, since they can challenge microbial populations, they must be considered as important pollutants as well. Besides being used for human therapy, antibiotics are extensively used for animal farming and for agricultural purposes. Residues from human environments and from farms may contain antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes that can contaminate natural environments. The clearest consequence of antibiotic release in natural environments is the selection of resistant bacteria. The same resistance genes found at clinical settings are currently disseminated among pristine ecosystems without any record of antibiotic contamination. Nevertheless, the effect of antibiotics on the biosphere is wider than this and can impact the structure and activity of environmental microbiota. Along the article, we review the impact that pollution by antibiotics or by antibiotic resistance genes may have for both human health and for the evolution of environmental microbial populations.
抗生素是用于人类治疗最成功的药物之一。然而，由于它们可能对微生物种群构成挑战，因此也必须被视为重要的污染物。除了用于人类治疗外，抗生素还广泛用于动物养殖和农业用途。来自人类环境和农场的残留物可能含有抗生素和抗生素抗性基因，从而污染自然环境。抗生素在自然环境中释放的最明显后果是选择耐药细菌。在没有抗生素污染记录的情况下，目前在原始生态系统中传播着在临床环境中发现的相同抗性基因。尽管如此，抗生素对生物圈的影响范围更广，可能会影响环境微生物群落的结构和活性。在本文中，我们回顾了抗生素或抗生素抗性基因污染可能对人类健康和环境微生物种群进化产生的影响。
