A systematic review of AMR in wildlife: temporal and geographical
distribution trends
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a complex and global problem. Despite
the growing literature on AMR in the medical and veterinary settings,
there is still a lack of knowledge and research on the wildlife
compartment. The main aim of this study was to report the global trends
in AMR research in wildlife, through a bibliometric study of articles
found in the Web of Science database. A total of 214 articles were
obtained, published between 1979 and 2019. A rising interest in the last
decades towards this topic becomes evident. During this period, the
scientific literature was distributed among a broad range of scientific
fields, however it became more multidisciplinary in the last years with
a change of the spotlight into the “One Health” paradigm. There was a
geographical bias in the research outputs. Most published documents were
indisputably from the United States, followed by Spain, Portugal and the
United Kingdom. The most productive institutions in terms of publication
number were located in Portugal and Spain. An important level of
international collaboration was identified. An analysis of the main
keywords showed an overall dominance of “AMR”, “E. coli”, “genes”,
“prevalence”, “bacteria”, “Salmonella spp.” and “wild birds”.
This is the first study providing a global overview of the spatial and
temporal trends of research related to AMR in wildlife. Given the growth
tendency over the last years, it is envisaged that scientific production
and research efforts will expand in the future. In addition to offering
a broad view of the existing research trends, this study identifies
research gaps both in terms of geographical incidence and also in
relation to unexplored subtopics. Unearthing scientific areas that
should be invested in and explored in the future is key to designing new
strategic research agendas in AMR research in wildlife and to inform
funding programs.