Pathogens 2015, 4, 1-19; doi:10.

3390/pathogens4010001

Review
OPEN ACCESS pathogens ISSN 2076-0817 www.mdpi.com/journal/pathogens
Alternatives to Antibiotics in Animal Agriculture: An Ecoimmunological View
Yongming Sang * and Frank Blecha
Department of Anatomy and Physiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas Sta
te University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA; E-Mail: blecha@vet.k-state.edu
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: ysang@vet.k-state.
edu; Tel.: +1-785-532-4540; Fax: +1-785-532-4557.
Academic Editor: Guolong Zhang
Received: 25 October 2014 / Accepted: 24 December 2014 / Published: 29 December
2014

Abstract: Ecological immunology (or ecoimmunology) is a new discipline in animal

health and immunology that extends immunologists
views into a natural context wher
e animals and humans have co-evolved. Antibiotic resistance and tolerance (ART)
in bacteria are manifested in antibiosis-surviving subsets of resisters and pers
isters. ART has emerged though natural evolutionary consequences enriched by hum
an nosocomial and agricultural practices, in particular, wide use of antibiotics
that overwhelms other ecological and immunological interactions. Most previous
reviews of antibiotic resistance focus on resisters but overlook persisters, alt
hough both are fundamental to bacteria survival through antibiosis. Here, we dis
cuss resisters and persisters together to contrast the distinct ecological respo
nses of persisters during antibiotic stress and propose different regimens to er
adicate persisters. Our intention is not only to provide an ecoimmunological int
erpretation, but also to use an ecoimmunological system to categorize available
alternatives and promote the discovery of prospective approaches to relieve ART
problems within the general scope of improving animal health. Thus, we will cate
gorize available alternatives to antibiotics and envision applications of ecoimm
unological tenets to promote related studies in animal production.
Keywords: alternatives to antibiotics; antibiosis; antibiotic resistance and tol
erance; bacterial resisters and persisters; ecoimmunology