Dr. Umar Aitsaam

Heavy metal pollution accelerates antibiotic resistance by promoting co-selection mechanisms in bacteria. Environmental, agricultural, and clinical studies reveal that metals like nickel, zinc, and copper intensify multidrug resistance through efflux pumps, gene transfer, and stress adaptation—posing a major One Health challenge to global antimicrobial stewardship.

This review elucidates the glyoxalase system’s biochemical mechanisms, emphasizing its detoxification role under heavy metal exposure and highlighting its potential as a biomarker framework for HTMC certification.

Heavy metals foster antibiotic resistance by co-selecting for ARGs through shared genetic and biochemical pathways, demanding updated certification standards integrating microbial monitoring.

Industrialization increases heavy metal accumulation and antibiotic resistance gene spread in wastewater and sludge, demonstrating co-selection between metals and antimicrobial agents, especially in industrial regions.

Study across UK and India shows heavy metal pollution and antibiotic resistance co-rise, with cobalt-nickel and cobalt-zinc-cadmium mixtures driving ARG hotspots relevant to certification controls.

Sublethal copper and zinc exposure induces multidrug and cross-resistance in E. coli and S. aureus by upregulating efflux pumps and causing mutations, highlighting the need for strict heavy metal regulation to prevent environmental promotion of antibiotic resistance.

Heavy metal contamination in the Xiangjiang River promotes the persistence and proliferation of β-lactam resistance genes in environmental bacteria, independent of antibiotic presence, emphasizing the need for expanded risk assessment in heavy metal certification programs.

This research demonstrates that zinc amendments in soil drive the co-selection and spread of antibiotic resistance genes, mediated by mobile genetic elements and changes in microbial communities, emphasizing the need for stringent heavy metal regulation in agricultural certification programs.

Therapeutic zinc oxide therapy in pigs increases MRSA prevalence and persistence without improving growth, highlighting the need for careful regulation of ZnO use to reduce antimicrobial resistance risks in agriculture.

This review found consistent links between antimicrobial and heavy metal use and increased resistance genes in pigs, emphasizing the need for standardized, culture-independent monitoring to inform effective heavy metal certification and regulation in animal production.