- Course overview
- Search within this course
- What is antimicrobial resistance?
- How do we study pathogens?
- Public pathogen data
- A guide to the Pathogens Portal
- Analysing genomic data from pathogens
- Identification and investigation of antimicrobial resistance genes
- Data sharing
- The future of AMR
- Crossword: Test your knowledge
- Your feedback
- Further resources
- Help and support
- Glossary
- References
Looking for antimicrobial resistance genes in different environments
So far our focus has mainly been on studying AMR in relation to known pathogens, nevertheless AMR is not a phenotype strictly limited to pathogenic organisms. Many environmental and commensal microorganisms that are not typically associated with disease or exposed to antimicrobials can be intrinsically resistant to different antimicrobials. Additionally, there is also evidence to show that ARGs are becoming more prevalent in these microorganisms after coming into contact with antimicrobials through environmental contamination, or through the acquisition of ARGs from genetic exchanges with pathogenic organisms present in their environment.
Given that antimicrobial resistance genes are becoming more widespread in the environment, what impact do you think this has on our ability to control antimicrobial resistance?