ABSTRACT
When thinking of “antibiotics in the environment’’, perhaps a first image that comes to mind is a clandestine dumping of antibiotics from a drug factory into a river in a nondeveloped country; and when thinking of “antibiotic resistance in the environment’’, the natural consequence would be to think of an aquatic bacteria under the selection of the dumped antibiotic becoming resistant to the drug, and then causing an outbreak in a neighboring town. The actual scenario is far more complicated and complex: complicated, as there are much more elements at play; complex, as the interactions of those elements are many and multi-directional. Even from the semantic point of view, there could be confusion as to what we call “antibiotic’’, “resistance’’ or “environment’’, so it is important to begin with some working definitions. Although some definitions are not unanimously agreed upon, it is crucial to frame the content of this book within those definitions, in order to avoid misinterpretation.
