Antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is a One Health problem
Authors: Ismael L Hernández-González, Santiago Castillo-Ramírez
Journal: The Lancet Microbe (2020)

Infections by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major and complex global health issue. The One Health concept—a transdisciplinary approach, in which the health of humans, the environment, and animals are considered interconnected—has been proposed as a method to address antibiotic resistance.1Scott HM Acuff G Bergeron G Bourassa MW Simjee S Singer RS Antimicrobial resistance in a One Health context: exploring complexities, seeking solutions, and communicating risks.Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2019; 1441: 3-7Crossref PubMed Scopus (15) Google Scholar Based on this approach, environmental and animal isolates should be studied along with human (clinical) isolates. WHO has classified carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii as one of the most important pathogens that urgently need new drugs.2WHOWHO publishes list of bacteria for which new antibiotics are urgently needed.https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-02-2017-who-publishes-list-of-bacteria-for-which-new-antibiotics-are-urgently-neededDate: Feb 27, 2017Date accessed: May 31, 2020Google Scholar However, very little is known about environmental isolates of A baumannii and their relevance to the problem of antibiotic resistance. In this Correspondence, we report that 13 animal and plant isolates have a substantial amount of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). We analysed A baumannii genomes from the National Center for Biotechnology Information Reference Sequence database that were derived from animal or plant sources. We considered only high-quality genomes (ie, genomes under the assembly level contigs were not included) and cross-checked correct species assignation and completeness of each genome, as we did previously using Acinetobacter johnsonii genomes.3Castillo-Ramírez S Mateo-Estrada V Gonzalez-Rocha G Opazo-Capurro A Phylogeographical analyses and antibiotic resistance genes of Acinetobacter johnsonii highlight its clinical relevance.mSphere. 2020; 5: e00581-e00620Crossref Google Scholar We found 11 animal and two plant isolates (appendix p 2) and all had many ARGs; details of the ARGs prediction were noted (appendix p 1). We noted five animal species, which included domestic animals (dogs), livestock (chicken, sheep), and wildlife (white stork, goose). We also found two plant species. The isolates came from five countries in three continents and belonged to several clones (appendix p 2). Nine of these isolates could be assigned to seven sequence types, which were previously described under the Oxford Multilocus Sequence Typing scheme.4Bartual SG Seifert H Hippler C Angeles Domínguez Luzon MA Wisplinghoff H Rodríguez-Valera F Development of a multilocus sequence typing scheme for characterisation of clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii.J Clin Micobiol. 2005; 43: 4382-4390Crossref PubMed Scopus (408) Google Scholar Surprisingly, four isolates had new sequence types because they could not be ascribed to known sequence types. On average, these isolates had 22 ARGs—the sheep isolate had the highest number of ARGs (29 ARGs) and one chicken isolate had the lowest number (16 ARGs). Moreover, all the isolates had ARGs against many drug classes (appendix p 1); remarkably, these isolates had ARGs that related to important antimicrobials such as cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, or fluoroquinolones. Our results show that animal and plant isolates could be an important reservoir of ARGs. These isolates come from different countries and belong to different (some novel) clones. Thus, using a One Health perspective, non-human isolates should be included in the equation to better understand antimicrobial resistance in A baumannii. Future investigations are needed to understand the transmission routes in clinical and environmental A baumannii populations. We declare no competing interests. Download .pdf (.36 MB) Help with pdf files Supplementary appendix