A Comparative One-Health Approach tackling AMR infections UK and Indian Livestock

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest global challenges we face this century. Recent estimates suggest almost 5 million deaths were linked to AMR infections worldwide in 2019. Antimicrobials are used as "growth promoters" in livestock throughout the world, although this is banned in the UK. Using antimicrobials routinely like this allows bacteria which carry antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) to survive and grow in the guts of livestock. These ARG can transfer between bacteria and may spread to disease-causing pathogens, making these diseases increasingly difficult to treat. These pathogens can transfer to humans through direct contact, or consumption of contaminated food. This is a problem, even in the UK which banned antibiotic growth promoters, as AMR pathogens can spread between countries by international travel, trade, and migratory wildlife. Much is unknown about how ARG spread between animals, humans, and the environment and this needs to be understood before we can design effective interventions. Combatting AMR requires a global approach to reduce overall antimicrobial use in animals and humans and the pursuit of alternative treatments.

In this project, researchers from the UK and India will study the spread of AMR in dairy farms in the UK and Central India. Our focus is the bacterium E. coli which causes a range of infections in animals and humans. E. coli is a critical priority for control by the World Health Organization (WHO) because it causes infections that are increasingly multi-drug resistant, and it can survive in the environment for extended periods. We will track the spread of ARG and E. coli in the environments of five dairy farms in India, and two in the UK, over two year period. We are focussing on dairy cattle because they are susceptible to diarrhoea caused by E. coli, particularly when young; and are frequently treated with antimicrobials to control other infections such as mastitis. India is also the largest...