About this Research Topic
Fighting antimicrobial resistant pathogens has led to a huge burden on the health care sector in the last decade. There is a reported increased incidence of multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria all over the world. These bacteria show resistance against multiple antibiotic groups, limiting therapeutic options with the current available antimicrobial drugs. The rate of acquired resistance in pathogens is much higher in respect to time when compared with the rate of discovering new antimicrobial drugs indicating that at some point, no available treatment will be present for some infections. The absence of possible effective treatment will, by default, lead to increased hospitalization periods. Which in turn would lead to a higher possibility of hospital acquired infections (HAI), thus increasing morbidity and mortality rates.
In 2021, the World Health Organization published the “Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS)” in which it confirms that there are high rates of antimicrobial resistance in common human infections. Moreover, the published report confirms the importance of antimicrobial resistance surveillance globally to efficiently implement strategies in fighting MDR pathogens. Epidemiological studies of antimicrobial resistant pathogens are crucial in fighting antimicrobial resistance. The knowledge it implies help in creating policy making, strategy and implementation of preventive measures. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been used extensively in the last decade for this purpose showing great promise due to the amount of data generated. These data can better explain taxonomy, antimicrobial resistance phenotype, virulence patterns, clone, route of transmission and most importantly, the possibility comparing data with data from all over the world. The growing trend of antimicrobial resistance is attributed to: clonal dissemination of high virulent clones and the emergence of Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs) including epidemic plasmids. Therefore, genomic identification of clones and their virulent characteristics, and MDR MGEs is crucial.
This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Review, and Mini Review articles focusing on the use of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) and omics approaches for: epidemiological studies and the characterization of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in critical and high priority pathogens from different reservoirs.
This Research Topic covers but is not limited to:
• Genomic epidemiology of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
• Outbreak characterization in healthcare settings or in a geographic region.
• Characterization of novel antibiotic resistant genes or reports of new variants in a geographic setting.
• Characterization of MGEs associated with antibiotic resistance mechanisms.
In 2021, the World Health Organization published the “Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS)” in which it confirms that there are high rates of antimicrobial resistance in common human infections. Moreover, the published report confirms the importance of antimicrobial resistance surveillance globally to efficiently implement strategies in fighting MDR pathogens. Epidemiological studies of antimicrobial resistant pathogens are crucial in fighting antimicrobial resistance. The knowledge it implies help in creating policy making, strategy and implementation of preventive measures. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been used extensively in the last decade for this purpose showing great promise due to the amount of data generated. These data can better explain taxonomy, antimicrobial resistance phenotype, virulence patterns, clone, route of transmission and most importantly, the possibility comparing data with data from all over the world. The growing trend of antimicrobial resistance is attributed to: clonal dissemination of high virulent clones and the emergence of Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs) including epidemic plasmids. Therefore, genomic identification of clones and their virulent characteristics, and MDR MGEs is crucial.
This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Review, and Mini Review articles focusing on the use of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) and omics approaches for: epidemiological studies and the characterization of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in critical and high priority pathogens from different reservoirs.
This Research Topic covers but is not limited to:
• Genomic epidemiology of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
• Outbreak characterization in healthcare settings or in a geographic region.
• Characterization of novel antibiotic resistant genes or reports of new variants in a geographic setting.
• Characterization of MGEs associated with antibiotic resistance mechanisms.
Keywords: Whole Genome Sequencing, Horizontal Gene Transfer, MDR, Infectious Pathogens, Mobile Genetic Elements, Next Generation Sequencing, Antimicrobial resistance, pathogens, Multidrug resistance, antimicrobial
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