The chapter aims to reveal the complex relationships between antibiotic resistance in bacteria and heavy metal pollution at the human/animal interface. The antibiotic resistance is a continuously growing threat for both people and animals. Animals could represent a source for zoonotic microbial contamination of humans as subject for consumption and also as contacts (companion, sports, zoo animals, etc.). Antimicrobial treatments in animals, if uncontrolled or injudicious, could raise antibiotic-resistant strains to be transferred to humans where they can cause even more severe diseases. Moreover, the environment has its own microbiome, including some nonpathogenic but antibiotic-resistant species. Human industrial activities are carried out in certain environments, with particular microbiomes and also where animals bearing antibiotic-resistant bacteria are present. Thus, the degree of pollution with heavy metals, as part of the global pollutants to the environment, could impact on the bacteria and their resistome with severe consequences for inhabitants of the area.
Part of the book: Antibiotic Use in Animals
The chapter aims to reveal the importance of indicators in defining equine welfare and their relationship with the immune system and subsequent resistance to diseases. The sharp economic changes after the World War II changed the role played by horses in the society. The improvement of modern breeds, their involvement in different equestrian activities, the development of sports horse shows and industry, the increase of the economic value of the individuals on the basis of their performances, as well as the emergence of modern “natural” training theories implicitly led, in developed countries, to a change of public attitude toward this animal. According to World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) principles, animal welfare and animal health are closely linked. The correlated use of the welfare assessment by direct indicators with the investigation of the immune status proved to be a powerful tool in the interdisciplinary research on how the horses cope with different management conditions and the health outcome of different raising technologies. The dimensions of this approach have not been exhausted by far in this study which is merely a first step taken in Romania to a better understanding on protection and use of these animals.
Part of the book: Animal Welfare
Multidrug resistance (MDR) represents a complex phenomenon, caused not only by nondiscriminative antibiotic therapy in both human and animal medicine but also by the transfer of resistance genes between different bacteria. Animals besides different environments embody a niche for the development of resistant microbiomes, representing a serious threat to people not only as contacts but also as consumers/tourists. The epidemiological cycle of MDR bacteria is closed by changes in either their hosts or in their habitats. To prevent further spreading of MDR, natural solutions are investigated as efficacy, including in this category various compounds isolated from medicinal plants (quinones, flavones, flavonoids, and flavonols, tannins, coumarins, terpenoids and essential oils, alkaloids, lectins and polypeptides, etc.). The results of such studies are valuable for the medicine, but could the medicinal plants cover the gap for humans, animals, and the environment? This chapter aims at trying to answer this question.
Part of the book: Antimicrobial Resistance
Medicinal plants have represented accessible and highly bioavailable remedies in traditional therapeutic and preventive practices of numerous populations worldwide. Veterinary treatments based on medicinal plants are also widespread, mainly targeting the control or prevention of parasitic diseases. Scientific support of the immune-stimulating efficacy of plants or their extracts in animals is less documented. The immunological activity of alcoholic plant extracts was investigated in numerous animal classes, starting from Pisces, through Reptilia and Aves and reaching Mammalia, envisaging their effects on innate and adaptive cell-mediated immunity, which the authors mean to share in this chapter, also providing a comparison of variable reactivity within and between the classes.
Part of the book: Herbs and Spices - New Perspectives in Human Health and Food Industry [Working title]