Influence of agricultural antibiotic use on chicken meat-associated enterococci and their connection to the clinic.

Influence of agricultural antibiotic use on chicken meat-associated enterococci and their connection to the clinic. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2019 Aug 30;: Authors: Manson AL, Van Tyne D, Straub TJ, Clock S, Crupain M, Rangan U, Gilmore MS, Earl AM Abstract Industrial farms are unique, human-created ecosystems that provide the perfect setting for development and dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Agricultural antibiotic use amplifies naturally-occurring resistance mechanisms from soil ecologies, promoting their spread and sharing with other bacteria, including those poised to become endemic within hospital environments. To better understand the role of enterococci in the movement of antibiotic resistance from farm to table to clinic, we characterized over 300 isolates of Enterococcus cultured from raw chicken meat purchased at United States supermarkets by the Consumers' Union in 2013. E. faecalis and E. faecium were the predominant species found, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing uncovered striking levels of resistance to medically important antibiotic classes, particularly from classes approved by the FDA for use in animal production. While nearly all isolates were resistant to at least one drug, bacteria from meat labeled as raised without antibiotics had fewer resistances, particularly for E. faecium Whole-genome sequencing of 92 isolates revealed that both commensal- and clinical-like enterococcal strains were associat...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Environ Microbiol Source Type: research