May 5, 2023
Evaluation of impact of antibiotic-use reduction measures on the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and pathogen abundance in pig production barns
The goal of this project is to compare the effect of the adoption of a RWA (raised without antibiotics) approach with non-RWA operations on the overall prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and pathogen abundance in pig production facilities. We conducted surveillance of AMR and pathogens using whole genome sequencing (WGS), whereby primary data quantifying the resistome, virulome and bacterial diversity in the participating barns was obtained. Additionally, we developed a workflow methodology for metagenomics investigation of the effect of the RWA program on the resistome and virulome in conjunction with drug-use and animal health metadata collected from each type of barn.
