Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to global public health. According to the lastest antibiotic resistance threats report provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result. The rapid increase in the prevalence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Gram-negative bacteria, particularly carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter spp., has compromised the efficacy of almost all antibiotics - including the carbapenems. Tigecycline and colistin are therefore considered as the 'last-resort' antibiotics used to treat severe infections caused by XDR bacteria. However, the emergence and widespread of plasmid-borne mcr and tet(X) variant genes in healthcare settings and the environment, which confer resistance to colistin and tigecycline, pose a serious threat to human and animal health. Thus, the time is right now to arrange a Research Topic to present and highlight these novel findings.
The major goal of this Research Topic is to expand the knowledge about the transmission dynamics and control of antimicrobial resistance to last-resort antibiotics (e.g. carbapenems, tigecycline and colistin). We seek an multidisciplinary approach, with authors acting as researchers in universities, academic institutes, centers for disease control and hospitals, as well as those who work in fields including clinical microbiology, environmental and veterinary. This Research Topic welcomes comparative genomic studies to explore the genomic basis of antimicrobial resistance and to discover the channels of resistance transmission between humans, animals, and environment. Characterizing mobile genetic elements (MGEs) from different reservoirs to underline the role of horizontal gene transfer in the dissemination of mobile tigecycline and colistin resistance genes are more than welcome. In addition, we will also be interested in articles tackling the epidemiology and phylogeography of the international multidrug-resistant high-risk clones. Finally, studies that attempt to identify new resistance mechanisms, explore newly discovered antimicrobial agents, as well as to introduce novel methods to address them will be very much appreciated.
This Research Topic encourages the collection of Original Research, Perspectives and (mini)Reviews that focus on transmission dynamics of antimicrobial resistance to the last-resort antibiotics, as well as articles that introduce novel methods to tackle the expanding antimicrobial resistance problem globally. This Research Topic will present authoritative works includes, but is not limited to the following themes:
• Understanding the development of resistance, the epidemiology, and the transmission dynamics of antimicrobial resistance to the last-resort antibiotics within and between species.
• Genomic epidemiological and spatial-temporal analysis of the international multidrug-resistant high-risk clones.
• Characterization of novel mobile genetic elements (MGEs) associated with plasmid-mediated tigecycline and colistin resistance.
• Developing novel antibiotics, alternative approaches and diagnostic tools to appropriately treat and prevent the transmission of superbugs.
• Development of new bioinformatics approach to predict the antimicrobial resistance phenotypes from whole genome sequencing data.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to global public health. According to the lastest antibiotic resistance threats report provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result. The rapid increase in the prevalence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Gram-negative bacteria, particularly carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter spp., has compromised the efficacy of almost all antibiotics - including the carbapenems. Tigecycline and colistin are therefore considered as the 'last-resort' antibiotics used to treat severe infections caused by XDR bacteria. However, the emergence and widespread of plasmid-borne mcr and tet(X) variant genes in healthcare settings and the environment, which confer resistance to colistin and tigecycline, pose a serious threat to human and animal health. Thus, the time is right now to arrange a Research Topic to present and highlight these novel findings.
The major goal of this Research Topic is to expand the knowledge about the transmission dynamics and control of antimicrobial resistance to last-resort antibiotics (e.g. carbapenems, tigecycline and colistin). We seek an multidisciplinary approach, with authors acting as researchers in universities, academic institutes, centers for disease control and hospitals, as well as those who work in fields including clinical microbiology, environmental and veterinary. This Research Topic welcomes comparative genomic studies to explore the genomic basis of antimicrobial resistance and to discover the channels of resistance transmission between humans, animals, and environment. Characterizing mobile genetic elements (MGEs) from different reservoirs to underline the role of horizontal gene transfer in the dissemination of mobile tigecycline and colistin resistance genes are more than welcome. In addition, we will also be interested in articles tackling the epidemiology and phylogeography of the international multidrug-resistant high-risk clones. Finally, studies that attempt to identify new resistance mechanisms, explore newly discovered antimicrobial agents, as well as to introduce novel methods to address them will be very much appreciated.
This Research Topic encourages the collection of Original Research, Perspectives and (mini)Reviews that focus on transmission dynamics of antimicrobial resistance to the last-resort antibiotics, as well as articles that introduce novel methods to tackle the expanding antimicrobial resistance problem globally. This Research Topic will present authoritative works includes, but is not limited to the following themes:
• Understanding the development of resistance, the epidemiology, and the transmission dynamics of antimicrobial resistance to the last-resort antibiotics within and between species.
• Genomic epidemiological and spatial-temporal analysis of the international multidrug-resistant high-risk clones.
• Characterization of novel mobile genetic elements (MGEs) associated with plasmid-mediated tigecycline and colistin resistance.
• Developing novel antibiotics, alternative approaches and diagnostic tools to appropriately treat and prevent the transmission of superbugs.
• Development of new bioinformatics approach to predict the antimicrobial resistance phenotypes from whole genome sequencing data.
