Exposure and health risks of livestock air resistomes

The livestock industry is a major source of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), with farm air containing seven times more ARGs than urban air. The daily inhalation of ARGs by farm workers is equivalent to several years of urban residents’ exposure. ARGs encoding resistance to last-resort antibiotics are detected in farm air, with tetX variants prevalent in both Chinese and European farms. Long-term antibiotic restrictions mitigate antibiotic resistance in the livestock environment, emphasizing the importance of antibiotic stewardship practices.