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Higgins C, Cohen ND, Slovis N, Boersma M, Gaonkar PP, Golden DR, Huber L. Antimicrobial Residue Accumulation Contributes to Higher Levels of Rhodococcus equi Carrying Resistance Genes in the Environment of Horse-Breeding Farms. Vet Sci 2024; 11:92. [PMID: 38393110 PMCID: PMC10892917 DOI: 10.3390/vetsci11020092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial residues excreted in the environment following antimicrobial treatment enhance resistant microbial communities in the environment and have long-term effects on the selection and maintenance of antimicrobial resistance genes (AMRGs). In this study, we focused on understanding the impact of antimicrobial use on antimicrobial residue pollution and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment of horse-breeding farms. Rhodococcus equi is an ideal microbe to study these associations because it lives naturally in the soil, exchanges AMRGs with other bacteria in the environment, and can cause disease in animals and humans. The environment is the main source of R. equi infections in foals; therefore, higher levels of multidrug-resistant (MDR) R. equi in the environment contribute to clinical infections with MDR R. equi. We found that macrolide residues in the environment of horse-breeding farms and the use of thoracic ultrasonographic screening (TUS) for early detection of subclinically affected foals with R. equi infections were strongly associated with the presence of R. equi carrying AMRGs in the soil. Our findings indicate that the use of TUS contributed to historically higher antimicrobial use in foals, leading to the accumulation of antimicrobial residues in the environment and enhancing MDR R. equi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Courtney Higgins
- Pathobiology Department, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36832, USA (P.P.G.)
| | - Noah D. Cohen
- Large Animal Clinical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M, College Station, TX 77843, USA;
| | - Nathan Slovis
- Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, Lexington, KY 40511, USA
| | - Melissa Boersma
- College of Sciences and Mathematics, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA;
| | - Pankaj P. Gaonkar
- Pathobiology Department, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36832, USA (P.P.G.)
| | - Daniel R. Golden
- Pathobiology Department, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36832, USA (P.P.G.)
| | - Laura Huber
- Pathobiology Department, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36832, USA (P.P.G.)
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Drane K, Huerlimann R, Power M, Whelan A, Ariel E, Sheehan M, Kinobe R. Testudines as Sentinels for Monitoring the Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance in Marine Environments: An Integrative Review. Antibiotics (Basel) 2021; 10:antibiotics10070775. [PMID: 34202175 PMCID: PMC8300651 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics10070775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Dissemination of antibiotic resistance (AR) in marine environments is a global concern with a propensity to affect public health and many ecosystems worldwide. We evaluated the use of sea turtles as sentinel species for monitoring AR in marine environments. In this field, antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been commonly identified by using standard culture and sensitivity tests, leading to an overrepresentation of specific, culturable bacterial classes in the available literature. AR was detected against all major antibiotic classes, but the highest cumulative global frequency of resistance in all represented geographical sites was against the beta-lactam class by a two-fold difference compared to all other antibiotics. Wastewater facilities and turtle rehabilitation centres were associated with higher incidences of multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDRB) accounting for an average of 58% and 49% of resistant isolates, respectively. Furthermore, a relatively similar prevalence of MDRB was seen in all studied locations. These data suggest that anthropogenically driven selection pressures for the development of AR in sea turtles and marine environments are relatively similar worldwide. There is a need, however, to establish direct demonstrable associations between AR in sea turtles in their respective marine environments with wastewater facilities and other anthropogenic activities worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kezia Drane
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia;
- Correspondence: (K.D.); (R.K.); Tel.: +61-0747814061 (R.K.)
| | - Roger Huerlimann
- Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia;
| | - Michelle Power
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia;
| | - Anna Whelan
- Townsville Water and Waste, Wastewater Operations, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia;
| | - Ellen Ariel
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia;
| | - Madoc Sheehan
- College of Science, Technology and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia;
| | - Robert Kinobe
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia;
- Correspondence: (K.D.); (R.K.); Tel.: +61-0747814061 (R.K.)
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