Performing Department
Veterinary Preventive Medicine
Non Technical Summary
Carbapenems are among our most valuable antibiotics, and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) represent an "urgent" public health threat. We have found that CRE in healthcare are transported in hospital waste to treatment plants where they survive and are discharged into surface waters and accumulate in fish and wildlife. Thus, CRE can be disseminated from surface waters into livestock populations in the broader watershed. There is evidence that frequent cephalosporin use in livestock can amplify CRE. Thus, if CRE were introduced into food animals, they would threaten animal health and production, and could enter the food supply in fresh meat. Therefore, preventing the dissemination of CRE into the environment and livestock is a critically important food-safety intervention. We propose to assess and identify means to mitigate the risk to the food chain that is posed by the dissemination of CRE into agricultural watersheds. Our goal is to understand the risk that CRE environmental dissemination poses to US animal agriculture and inland fisheries. To accomplish this, we propose to: 1. Quantify CRE and carbapenemase genes in wastewater flows, fish populations, and surface waters of agricultural watersheds; 2. Identify transport vectors capable of introducing CRE into agricultural animal populations in the watershed; 3. Monitor for the introduction of CRE into agricultural animal populations; and 4) create a transdisciplinary One Health student training program addressing issues of antimicrobial use, resistance, and stewardship from the human, animal, and environmental health perspectives. This directly addresses two program priorities: (1) The role of commensal organisms in the emergence, spread and selection of AMR in agro-ecosystems; and (2) Identify and establish resources for communicating and dispensing AMR-related curricula, best management practices, and others to combat AMR.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
Our hypothesis is that there is a significant risk to environmental, animal, and human health resulting from the transport of CRE from healthcare waste to wastewater treatment plants where they are discharged into surface waters and become incorporated into downstream natural and agricultural ecosystems in the broader watershed.Our long-term goal is to protect animal agriculture and inland fisheries by preventing the transport and understanding the fate of CRE from human healthcare disseminated in surface water where they pose a direct threat to animal and environmental health, as well as the US food chain.Our specific aim is to assess and identify means to mitigate the risk that CRE environmental dissemination poses to animal agriculture and inland fisheries in the US. In order to accomplish this aim, we propose to complete the following objectives:1. Quantify the presence of CRE and specific carbapenemase genes present in WWTP flows, wild fish populations, and in surface waters of agricultural watersheds.2. Identify and investigate the role of important transport vectors capable of introducing CRE from surface waters into agricultural animal populations in the watershed.3. Monitor for the introduction of CRE into agricultural animal populations using intensive targeted surveillance.4. Create a transdisciplinary One Health student training program addressing issues of antimicrobial use, resistance, and stewardship from the human, animal, and environmental health perspectives.
Project Methods
Our overall approach will be to epidemiologically assess the potential risk posed to the food chain by environmental dissemination of human healthcare associated CRE. We will accomplish this by documenting the incorporation of CRE into surface waters and agricultural operations in the broader watersheds and identifying the mostly likely vehicles, transport vectors, and indicator organisms for introduction of CRE into nearby livestock populations, while conducting intensive targeted surveillance to determine if waterborne CRE have already been introduced into nearby livestock populations. In addition, we will educate undergraduate, graduate, and professional health sciences students about antimicrobial use, resistance, and stewardship from the human, animal, and environmental health perspective as a means to mitigate future risk.