Antimicrobial-resistant bacterial infections from foods of animal origin: understanding and effectively communicating to consumers

April 15, 2019
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Consumers are increasingly interested in the attributes of the food they consume. This includes what is in the food and how it was raised; and at least some consumers are willing to pay a premium for products with specific attributes. However, the current plethora of labels on the market does not adequately address this issue;…

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From farm management to bacteriophage therapy: strategies to reduce antibiotic use in animal agriculture

April 15, 2019
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To reduce the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, a number of effective or commercially viable alternatives have been implemented by food animal producers or are under development. Perhaps the most well-established strategies are flock and herd management practices to mitigate disease introduction and spread, and, subsequently, reduce the need for antibiotic use. While vaccines…

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Complexities in understanding antimicrobial resistance across domesticated animal, human, and environmental systems

April 15, 2019
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant threat to both human and animal health. The spread of AMR bacteria and genes across systems can occur through a myriad of pathways, both related and unrelated to agriculture, including via wastewater, soils, manure applications, direct exchange between humans and animals, and food exposure. Tracing origins and drivers of…

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Critically important antibiotics: criteria and approaches for measuring and reducing their use in food animal agriculture

April 15, 2019
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Globally, increasing acquired antimicrobial resistance among pathogenic bacteria presents an urgent challenge to human and animal health. As a result, significant efforts, such as the One Health Initiative, are underway to curtail and optimize the use of critically important antimicrobials for human medicine in all applications, including food animal production. This review discusses the rationale…

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Antimicrobial resistance in a One Health context: exploring complexities, seeking solutions, and communicating risks

April 15, 2019
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Four articles presented in this special issue of Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences stem from a meeting of experts on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in food animal production hosted by the New York Academy of Sciences on May 8 and 9, 2018. The articles discuss (1) competing considerations of the criticality of different…

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Syndromic surveillance of respiratory disease in free-living chimpanzees

April 15, 2019
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Disease surveillance in wildlife is rapidly expanding in scope and methodology, emphasizing the need for formal evaluations of system performance. We examined a syndromic surveillance system for respiratory disease detection in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, from 2004 to 2012, with respect to data quality, disease trends, and respiratory disease detection. Data quality was assessed by…

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The AVMA’s definitions of antimicrobial uses for prevention, control, and treatment of disease

March 15, 2019
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Recent state and federal legislative actions and current recommendations from the World Health Organization seem to suggest that, when it comes to antimicrobial stewardship, use of antimicrobials for prevention, control, or treatment of disease can be ranked in order of appropriateness, which in turn has led, in some instances, to attempts to limit or specifically…

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Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli and class 1 integrons in humans, domestic animals, and wild primates in rural Uganda

November 1, 2018
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Antibiotic resistance is a global concern, although it has been studied most extensively in developed countries. We studied Escherichia coliand class 1 integrons in western Uganda by analyzing 1,685 isolates from people, domestic animals, and wild nonhuman primates near two national parks. Overall, 499 isolates (29.6%) were resistant to at least one of 11 antibiotics tested.…

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Optimizing syndromic health surveillance in free ranging great apes: The case of Gombe National Park

October 23, 2018
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Syndromic surveillance is an incipient approach to early wildlife disease detection. Consequently, systematic assessments are needed for methodology validation in wildlife populations. We evaluated the sensitivity of a syndromic surveillance protocol for respiratory disease detection among chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Empirical health, behavioural, and demographic data were integrated with an agent‐based, network model…

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Animal production, animal health and food safety: Gaps and challenges in the Chilean industry

October 22, 2018
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This paper summarizes the gaps and challenges related to animal production, health, and food safety as discussed by a panel at the 1st International Symposium of Food Safety (ISFS) in Santiago, Chile, in December 2016. Participating representatives of academia, industry, and government and statements from the audience confirmed that food safety is essential for increasing…

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Associations between nutrition, gut microbiome, and health in a novel nonhuman primate model

July 24, 2018
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Red-shanked doucs (Pygathrix nemaeus) are endangered, foregut-fermenting colobine primates which are difficult to maintain in captivity. There are critical gaps in our understanding of their natural lifestyle, including dietary habits such as consumption of leaves, unripe fruit, flowers, seeds, and other plant parts. There is also a lack of understanding of enteric adaptations, including their…

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Vaccination against Lawsonia intracellularis decreases shedding of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in co-infected pigs and alters the gut microbiome

February 12, 2018
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Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium continues to be a major cause of foodborne illness worldwide and pork can serve as a source of infection. Co-infection of S. enterica with Lawsonia intracellularis, a common intestinal pathogen of swine, has been found as risk factor for increased S. enterica shedding. The objective of this study was to investigate…

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Systematic Review: Impact of point sources on antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the natural environment

February 5, 2018
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Point sources such as wastewater treatment plants and agricultural facilities may have a role in the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARG). To analyse the evidence for increases in ARB in the natural environment associated with these point sources of ARB and ARG, we conducted a systematic review. We evaluated 5,247…

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Impact of point sources on antibiotic resistance genes in the natural environment: a systematic review of the evidence

December 12, 2017
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There is a growing concern about the role of the environment in the dissemination of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARG). In this systematic review, we summarize evidence for increases of ARG in the natural environment associated with potential sources of ARB and ARG such as agricultural facilities and wastewater treatment plants.…

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Longitudinal study of Staphylococcus aureus colonization and infection in a cohort of swine veterinarians in the United States

October 19, 2017
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BACKGROUND: People working with pigs are at elevated risk of harboring methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in their nose, which is attributable to occupational exposure to animals harboring livestock adapted S. aureus. To obtain insight into the biological nature of occupationally related nasal culture positivity, we conducted a longitudinal study of 66 swine veterinarians in…

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