Soil Antibiotics and Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Genes Affecting Wildlife

Antibiotics are used in large quantities both in human and veterinary medicine. Due to incomplete metabolism, antibiotics are released and spread into the terrestrial environment. The application of manure in the agricultural fields is the leading cause of the antibiotic spread in soils. Depending on the structural characteristics of each class of antibiotic, they can be adsorbed and fixated on soils with different strengths and may remain there for a long period of time. Repeated use of manure containing antibiotics and resistant bacteria affects the soil microbial communities in various aspects, including the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria due to selective pressure and horizontal gene transfer. Different bacterial species harbor distinct resistance genes, and they were found in humans and domestic animals. These resistance genes were also found in wild animals which had no apparent contact with antibiotics. However, the soil antibiotics may have had spread the resistance genes through different ecological niches reaching the wild animals.