African Wildlife May Be Acquiring Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria From Nearby Humans

African Wildlife May Be Acquiring Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria From Nearby Humans

by | Sep 9, 2015 | Antimicrobial resistance

African Wildlife May Be Acquiring Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria From Nearby Humans

The finding points to ways that ‘superbugs’ might spread

Antibiotic-resistance is a major concern with far-reaching effects. Bacteria that can shrug off the drugs meant to kill them pop up all over the world — in ancient feces, in isolated cultures of people who have never taken antibiotics, and even in the Hudson River. Now researchers have found such microbes in African wildlife, reports Jennifer Balmer for Science. 

6. Antimicrobial resisitance_wildlifeTwo researchers, Sarah Elizabeth Jobbins and Kathleen Ann Alexander, tested Escherichia coli strains for resistance to 10 commonly used antibiotics, they report in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. More than 40 percent of the animals tested — including hyena, crocodile, leopard, bushbuck, giraffe and baboon — carried E. coli resistant to one antibiotic and more than 13 percent were resistant to three or more. More than 94 percent of humans tested carried strains resistant to one antibiotic and nearly 69 percent were resistant to three or more antibiotics. The implication is that the relationship isn’t coincidental.

The resistance may have traveled through water contaminated with human fecal matter via sewage and stormwater runoff, the researchers write. The water-dwelling animals had higher levels of antibiotic resistance than those that lived on land.

“Alarmingly, we demonstrated widespread resistance in wildlife to several first-line antimicrobials used in human medicine—ampicillin, doxycycline, streptomycin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim– sulfamethoxazole (commonly known as cotrimoxazole),” the researchers write. Doxycycline, they note, is often used by visitors to Africa to protect against malaria. Cotrimoxazole is given to HIV patients to protect against infection. Widespread resistance to those drugs may someday render them useless as medicine.

This article originally appeared on news section of the smithsonianmag website.

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One health genomics- why animal diseases matter for human health

One health genomics- why animal diseases matter for human health

by | Sep 9, 2015 | One Health

One health genomics- why animal diseases matter for human health

“…At the PHG Foundation, a science and health policy think tank, we have been examining policy issues surrounding the prospective implementation of pathogen genomic technologies in the UK health service. Our most recent briefing note is titled “One health genomics- why animal diseases matter for human health”. The briefing outlines some potential benefits and considerations of human and animal health agencies conducting coordinated pathogen genomic surveillance. We thought the briefing might be of interest to you [the One Health Initiative team] given the remit of your organisation. …

Please see entire briefing note at http://www.phgfoundation.org/briefing_notes/422/

In humans, pathogen genomics is beginning to improve diagnosis of infections, tracking of outbreaks and identification of antimicrobial resistance. Could a cross-species (‘one health’) approach, to include similar efforts with animals, benefit both animal and human populations?

  • Animals are the source of around 75% of newly emerging human infectious diseases
  • The use of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections in livestock means that if these infections are transmitted to humans they may already be resistant to many of the antibiotics we use to treat them
  • Epidemiological analyses to trace the transmission between animal populations and / or between animal and humans are rarely conducted
  • Pathogen whole genome sequencing (WGS) has several advantages over conventional methods for diagnosing pathogen infections and characterising outbreaks, namely rapid diagnosis, high sensitivity, and flexible analysis
  • Implementing a genomic cross-species surveillance (one health) would enable earlier detection of pathogens and their transmission within and between species
  • Wider policy issues surrounding the prospective implementation of pathogen genomics in a clinical and public health context are detailed in our report Pathogen Genomics Into Practice …

And a further blog here: http://www.phgfoundation.org/blog/16913/.  Further information on the wider “Pathogen genomics into practice project” can be found here: http://www.phgfoundation.org/project/id. “

This article was originally posted at the One Health News section of the onehealthinitiative website.

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Humans carry more antibiotic-resistant bacteria than animals they work with

Humans carry more antibiotic-resistant bacteria than animals they work with

by | Sep 8, 2015 | One Health

Humans carry more antibiotic-resistant bacteria than animals they work with

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a concern for the health and well-being of both humans and farm animals. One of the most common and costly diseases faced by the dairy industry is bovine mastitis, a potentially fatal bacterial inflammation of the mammary gland (IMI). Widespread use of antibiotics to treat the disease is often blamed for generating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, researchers investigating staphylococcal populations responsible for causing mastitis in dairy cows in South Africa found that humans carried more antibiotic-resistant staphylococci than the farm animals with which they worked. The research is published in the Journal of Dairy Science®

Animal agriculture is often blamed for generating antibiotic-resistant bacteria through the “widespread” use of antibiotics. “South Africa has one of the highest HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis rates in the world and the human health risk to immune-compromised individuals is therefore that much greater,” explained lead investigator Tracy Schmidt, a PhD candidate at the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Pretoria, and a veterinary researcher at the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in South Africa. “The rise of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) and reported cases of bacterial transmission between dairy cows and humans has raised concerns from both the agriculture/veterinary sector and public health officials. The lack of data about the occurrence of LA-MRSA in South Africa and the need to investigate possible reservoirs were part of the motivation for this work.”

Staphylococcus aureus is a contagious udder pathogen that readily spreads between cows at milking. The main source is milk from infected quarters, with milking machine teat liners playing a significant role in the transmission of the bacteria among cows and mammary quarters. Infected cows need to be promptly identified and appropriate control measures need to be taken to curb bacterial transmission among cows. Other Staphylococcus species, collectively referred to as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), have traditionally been regarded as opportunistic pathogens of minor importance as mastitis caused by these bacteria is usually mild and remains subclinical However, the significance of CNS is being reassessed because, in many countries including South Africa, CNS have become the most common bacteria isolated from bovine IMI. Also of great importance is the fact that CNS often exhibit extensive resistance to antimicrobials and may serve as a reservoir of resistance genes that can transfer and supplement the genome of more pathogenic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus.

This research in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa investigated the diversity of Staphylococcus populations responsible for IMI in dairy cows and assessed the susceptibility of different species to antimicrobials commonly used in the veterinary field as well as human medicine. At the same time, individuals working in close contact with the animals were sampled and the diversity and susceptibility profiles of staphylococcal isolates determined and compared with isolates of animal origin.

With respect to staphylococcal diversity the results showed the clear predominance of Staphylococcus chromogenes among the CNS causing IMI, while Staphylococcus epidermidis was the isolate most commonly recovered from the human specimens.

The study found a relatively low occurrence of antimicrobial resistance among the bovine staphylococci. “This is encouraging as it indicates the responsible usage of antimicrobials within local dairies and provides our veterinary practitioners and animal owners valuable information going forward with respect to the treatment of infected animals,” commented Schmidt. None of the staphylococcal isolates of bovine origin were found to be resistant to methicillin. Furthermore, all isolates tested negative for the presence of vancomycin-encoding genes — vancomycin being one of the front-line antimicrobials used for the treatment of methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections in humans. The results indicate the low potential health risk posed to close contact workers and milk consumers through exposure to antibiotic-resistant staphylococci originating from milk.

“Of greatest interest was the extensive antimicrobial resistance noted among the coagulase-negative staphylococci of human origin. Multidrug resistance was common among isolates, and due to the propensity for staphylococci to acquire antimicrobial resistance through genetic exchange, human staphylococci can be regarded as a potential reservoir of resistance genes,” added Schmidt.

“As an industry we are making great strides to reduce the use of blanket treatment of farm animals with antibiotics and the notion that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are moving from farm animals to humans has been debunked many times,” observed Matt Lucy, PhD, Professor of Animal Science at the University of Missouri and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Dairy Science. “What the authors found is that the humans working with farm animals carry far more antibiotic-resistant staphylococci that the farm animals they work with. The risk, therefore, is the transfer from humans to farm animals and not from farm animals to humans as is often suggested.”

This article originally appeared on the sciencedaily website.

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Towards a healthier planet: Veterinary epidemiology research at ILRAD and ILRI, 1987–2014

Towards a healthier planet: Veterinary epidemiology research at ILRAD and ILRI, 1987–2014

by | Sep 8, 2015 | Reports

Towards a healthier planet: Veterinary epidemiology research at ILRAD and ILRI, 1987–2014

ReportThe good health of livestock, and of the humans who tend them, market them, consume their products and benefit from the resources they offer to populations across the world, has been central to our international development agenda for the past decade. It emerges with even stronger emphasis in the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Understanding health constraints to development, and how these can be reduced or mitigated, demands structured and well-coordinated research that can inform policy and evidence-based practices for disease control and prevention. This is the fundamental principle of epidemiology, whether applied to human or animal diseases.

Veterinary epidemiology was introduced into ILRAD in 1987 to provide more substantive justification for the investments being made into fundamental research on vaccine development for the two African vector-borne diseases—theileriosis (East Coast fever, ECF) and trypanosomiasis—on which ILRAD focused. Under the Epidemiology and Socio-economics Program a small multidisciplinary team set up a series of institutional collaborations to undertake impact assessments of these two diseases in different regions of Africa. The term epidemiology was not completely new to ILRAD, but it had been used in the context of parasite strain variations, not in the context of understanding disease dynamics in different livestock production systems, and the impacts on people who derived their livelihoods from them.

For the next seven years, until the merger of ILRAD and the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA ) in 1995 and the establishment of ILRI, the program focused almost exclusively on the dynamics and impacts of tick and tsetse-borne pathogens of livestock in Africa. In the new institutional environment following the merger, the geographic focus, disease focus, disciplinary makeup and range of tools used by the group broadened substantially, tackling multiple diseases in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and building capacity in epidemiological and economic impact assessment techniques. For a period of 15 years (1987–2002) ILRAD/ILRI’s epidemiology and socio-economic impact assessment capacity was assembled in one
team based at what became known as the ‘Epicentre’, serving a range of institutional and externally commissioned needs; it became increasingly recognized internationally for its focus on animal health issues affecting economic development and poverty reduction. Through a major study of animal health research priorities commissioned by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the team made a substantial contribution to the design of ILRI’s new strategy which emerged in 2002. But ironically the new institutional structure which emerged to serve the new strategy did not include an epidemiology and disease control program, and epidemiological capacity at ILRI over the last decade has become scattered throughout the institute and regions, the emphasis on quantitative epidemiology has decreased, and the focus has moved to new areas such as food safety, zoonoses and emerging diseases. Food safety and zoonoses is now the only one of ILRI’s 10 programs that has epidemiology focus and leadership.

Veterinary epidemiological and economic impact sciences at ILRAD and ILRI have left a valuable legacy of publications in peer-reviewed journals, strategic reports and policy documents, as well as methodologies and approaches which have been applied in virtually all corners of the world. The products of these sciences have also contributed to disease control policies and strategies in different ways, and a vast cadre of epidemiologists trained at ILRAD and ILRI is now serving different institutional needs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America.

Download the full report from ILRI’s website.

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Ethics and Best Practices in Sharing Individual-level Research Data

Ethics and Best Practices in Sharing Individual-level Research Data

by | Sep 8, 2015 | Research

Ethics and Best Practices in Sharing Individual-level Research Data

A new, open-access toolkit for researchers and data managers is released today, providing guidance, resources and an eLearning course about ethics and best practices of sharing individual-level health research data in Low and Medium Income Countries.

Data Sharing

Clinical research helps collect a lot of data through various studies, which are then managed and used for publications or to inform public health policies.

One of the issues faced though is that of data sharing between researchers and the rules and regulations surrounding it.
Data sharing can involve partner researchers/countries within the same study or trial (multi-countries studies) , within the same consortium (set of studies), or with external researchers wanting to have another look at the data after the study is finished and published.
Do you have experience of dealing with data sharing, how did you do it? Do you have rules and regulations in place that you follow to ensure data protection principles is upheld (eg. the data protection act in the UK)? How do you deal with identifiable vs non identifiable data.

From a different perspective, when sharing is possible, how do you technically do it. Do you simply zip and send, use dropbox or similar online tools, or do you have a commercial or custom built system? Do you follow any standards? How do you deal with security or does it not matter?

Another reason this is important is that most of the research is generally funded by public money and there is growing requirement from funders to ensure that data generated is shared . So some of us are already facing these issues, and sooner or later most institutions will be in similar situations.

For more tips and tricks visit the website Resource Centre for ethics and sharing individual-level research data.

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