ABSTRACT

Antibiotics are one of the most successful forms of chemotherapy in the history of medicine. They have saved millions of lives and enabled the development of modern medicine over the past several decades. The use of antibiotics is not just limited to the pharmaceutical industry but also extends to others sectors, especially the agricultural sector in the treatment or prophylaxis of livestock infection. The large-scale production and use of antibiotics in clinical and veterinary medicine, horticulture, agriculture, aquaculture, and other human activities have resulted in a massive explosion of antibiotic-resistant phenotypes in human and animal pathogens. Integrons are versatile gene acquisition systems commonly found in bacterial genomes that allow efficient capture and expression of exogenous genes. Integrons play a major role in antibiotic resistance among pathogenic organisms and contribute to the adaption and evolution of bacteria.