Cemeteries and graveyards as potential reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes and bacteria: a review

The discovery of antibiotics remains one of the greatest achievements of the last century. Unfortunately, due to their overuse and misuse, the occurrence of resistance to antibiotics has become one of the most pressing dilemmas for human public health. Many sources of antibiotic resistance are known, including agriculture, animal husbandry, hospitals, sewage treatment plants, and potentially, cemetery soil. There is lack of sufficient evidence on the contribution of the cemetery soil in the introduction of antibiotic resistance into the environment; therefore, this issue needs to be explored. Here, we review the most important pathways for the transfer of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms and their genes and the main factors influencing the spreading efficiency. Unlike other studies on this subject, the article focuses on an area that seems to be overlooked, the cemetery soil environment. The presented data highlight the importance of cemetery soil in the spread of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms and their genes into the environment, which may help identify appropriate solutions to combat this problem more effectively. In addition, the review describes their potential importance in the escalation of the antibiotic resistance phenomenon, along with different methods of combating antimicrobial resistance.