Why birds and foxes could act as early warning systems of antibiotic resistance across ecosystems

[littlemissmartypants]

By Indrabati Lahiri
Published on 16/04/2026 - 14:28 GMT+2

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been a growing problem for a number of years now, with resistance against antimicrobials key for human medicine being especially worrying.

However, new research has found that wildlife such as foxes and birds could be critical early warning systems for antibiotic resistance at the ecosystem level.

The study, which was first published in the Frontiers of Microbiology journal, evaluates the presence of enzyme-encoding genes in wildlife faecal samples, which can prove resistance to essential antibiotics like third-generation cephalosporins (3GCs), used to treat sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis.

These genes can spread through bacterial groups like ESKAPE, which are particularly resistant and can often sidestep antibacterial agents. One ESKAPE group bacterium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, has even spread much beyond systems and places directly exposed to antibiotics and can cause severe infections in humans.

...
https://www.euronews.com/health/2026/04/16/why-birds-and-foxes-could-act-as-early-warning-systems-of-antibiotic-resistance-across-eco

[NNadir]

1. That's a very interesting note. I have been increasingly concerned about this.

Many years ago I worked peripherally on the development of a drug that was in an entirely new class of antibiotics, an oxazolidine.

The problem with it was that when it came to market, which it did, doctors were only prescribing it in relatively rare cases of VREs and MSREs, so sales were relatively low.

The company that developed the drug was eaten by a larger pharmaceutical company which marketed it not as a drug of last resort, but instead as a broad spectrum antibiotic.

Sales went up and with it, resistance to the drug, which was way over prescribed when not necessary.

The giant pharma company was fined a pittance, but they really didn't care.

In every case these days, money overrules decency.

This is an economic problem with drug resistance, and it's a big one. Pharma companies would rather make maintenance drugs, which generate prescriptions over long periods rather than drugs which actually cure diseases.

Thanks again. I'll try to find time to dig up the full paper, but I'm way, way, way behind on all my reading.