Making sense of sentinels: wildlife as the one health bridge for environmental antimicrobial resistance surveillance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global One Health crisis caused by human-induced use of antimicrobials in healthcare and agriculture. Wildlife, as reservoirs and disseminators of AMR, can serve as valuable sentinels of the issue. Current surveillance systems focus on clinical and agricultural settings, neglecting the environmental dimension. Integrating wildlife into systematic AMR surveillance and policy can help track resistance evolution, assess ecological impacts, and understand the complex dynamics of environmental transmission.