Saccà Maria Ludovica, Resci Ilaria, Cilia Giovanni
Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Via Di Corticella 133, 40128, Bologna, Italy.
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2024 Aug 5. doi: 10.1007/s11356-024-34598-8.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global public health problem. Nevertheless, the knowledge of the factors driving the spread of resistance among environmental microorganisms is limited, and few studies have been performed worldwide. Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) have long been considered bioindicators of environmental pollution and more recently also of AMR. In this study, 53 bacterial strains isolated from the body surface of honey bees at three ontogenetic stages, collected from ten different geographic locations, were tested for their phenotypic and genotypic resistance to eight classes of the most widely used antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine. Results showed that 83% of the strains were resistant to at least one antimicrobial and 62% were multidrug-resistant bacteria, with a prevalence of resistance to nalidixic acid, cefotaxime, and aztreonam. A high percentage of isolates harbouring at least one antimicrobial gene was also observed (85%). The gene encoding resistance to colistin mcr-1 was the most abundant, followed by those for tetracycline tetM and tetC. Geographical features influenced the distribution of these traits more than bacterial species or bee stage, supporting the use of honey bee colonies and their associated bacteria as indicators to monitor environmental resistance. This approach can improve the scientific understanding of this global threat by increasing data collection capacity.
抗菌药物耐药性（AMR）是一个重大的全球公共卫生问题。然而，对于推动环境微生物中耐药性传播的因素的了解有限，全球范围内开展的相关研究较少。蜜蜂（西方蜜蜂）长期以来一直被视为环境污染的生物指示物，最近也被视为AMR的生物指示物。在本研究中，从十个不同地理位置采集的处于三个个体发育阶段的蜜蜂体表分离出53株细菌菌株，检测了它们对人类和兽医学中最广泛使用的八类抗菌药物的表型和基因型耐药性。结果表明，83%的菌株对至少一种抗菌药物耐药，62%为多重耐药菌，对萘啶酸、头孢噻肟和氨曲南的耐药率较高。还观察到高比例的分离株携带至少一个抗菌基因（85%）。编码对黏菌素耐药的mcr-1基因最为常见，其次是四环素tetM和tetC基因。地理特征对这些性状分布的影响大于细菌种类或蜜蜂发育阶段，这支持将蜂群及其相关细菌用作监测环境耐药性的指示物。这种方法可以通过提高数据收集能力来增进对这一全球威胁的科学认识。
