Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Vulnerability and Resilience of
Estuaries to Contamination
by Antibiotics and
Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria:
a Challenge for the Next Decade
2.1. Why does the ecosystem matter for human health in the
emergence of antibiotic resistance
One of the major challenges for the next decades will be the
assessment of how ecosystem changes could affect human health. The
microbiological vulnerability and the resilience of the aquatic
environment to contamination by fecal germs, which in industrialized
countries is accompanied by pharmaceutical contamination, will be a
major
health
concern
(Millennium
Ecosystem
Assessment,
http://milleniumassessment.org).
The impact of antibiotic release on the ecosystem still remains
poorly understood: do they favor the selection of genes encoding
antibiotic-resistance? Are these concentrations sufficient to affect
microbial communities and their roles in biogeochemical cycles? The
concentrations of antibiotics observed in the waters (in the order
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