How does antimicrobial resistance develop and how is it disseminated?
• Over-use and/or inappropriate use of antimicrobial drugs generally lead to increased AMR. Time plays an important role in determining the likelihood of resistance since the probability that an organism will develop resistance increases with the length of exposure. Some bacterial species are naturally resistant to a wide variety of antimicrobials. However, resistance can also be acquired by mutation in the genetic constituents of microorganisms which contain antibiotic resistance genes. The ability of resistant microorganisms to transfer these resistance genes to drug-susceptible ones makes AMR a potentially critical public health issue. • Antimicrobial resistance is disseminated through a variety of ways such as exchange of resistant genes among different bacterial populations in animals and humans. For example, resistant microorganisms can spread from animals to humans through the food supply and can also persist in the environment as a result of the use of antimicrobial drugs in an
