Drug resistance is a looming public health problem in the world and refers to the ability of microorganisms to endure the impacts of drugs that used to eliminate them or to slow their growth. It is imperative, therefore, to learn how resistance genes are acquired and disseminated in the population. One of the significant aspects of the given process is the environment which is critical for further promotion and development of antimicrobial resistance genes.

Soil and water are considered to contain diverse microbial population from the bacterial point of view and these populations contain genes related to microbial resistance. These genes can be primary, as a consequence of evolutionary processes and natural selection. For example, it is now known that the bacteria that live in soil have resistance genes to naturally manufactured antibiotics by other microbes. Moreover, contamination of the environment from agricultural effluents or raw sewage in water courses means that antibiotics and resistant bacteria are also discharged into natural water ecosystems. It results in filling the environment with selective pressure that leads to the growth and spread of resistance. Consequently, there is the possibility of resistance genes to circulate within microbial populations and perhaps switch to pathogenic bacteria that are detrimental to human life.

In the farming fields, the prescription of antibiotics to animals is one of the key reasons for the occurrence of AMR. Most of the antibiotics are used on animals place to prevent diseases, growth enhancements. But this practice favors the growth of resistant bacteria in the gut of the animal. They can then disseminate their selves through direct contact with the animals, through manure used as a fertilizer for the crops and through consumptions of products from these animals. Soil and water pollution by resistant bacteria and genes through the application of manure used as fertilizer can be taken by plants or end up in water systems. This enhances the ability of the resistance genes to move from animals to human beings either through ingestion of the animals or through environmental media.

Specific environmental locales such as the hospitals and the wastewater treatment plants are some of the sources of increased antimicrobial resistance. Antibiotics are employed profusely in hospitals, which are hugely pressurized institutions. These stringent exposures put a new selective pressure that may put forward resistant strains of bacteria in so many healthcare facilities. Poor sterilization and the disposal of pharmaceuticals pollute water systems with such compounds and genes that are difficult to eliminate. Sometimes these systems release the treated wastewater into natural water bodies Thus, disseminating the resistance genes in the environment.

Apart from animals, human environments, such as households, and facilities within communities, contribute to AMR distribution. Antibiotics can be used for viral infections, or the patient may not complete the full course of antibiotics, both of which are major causes of causing resistance. Secondly, the resistant bacteria may be transmitted from one person to another, surfaces, and disposal of drugs that were not used. Domestic animals and their companions similarly receive antibiotics; they also can be carriers of resistant bacteria, which are then transmitted to humans via contact.

Because resistance genes can be transferred laterally, through mutations, and through environmental foci, comprehensive strategies are clearly needed. Therefore, in order to mitigate this issue, it is central to strengthen the antibiotics use and resistance control, monitor the levels of contamination, enhance the awareness and understanding of the population, and to continue working on the investigation of this global phenomenon. It is important to unravel how these different environments contribute to the spread of resistance genes to develop the correct strategies that will in the long run help combat AMR and to save the world’s health.