BIORESIST- Biocide Impact on Antimicrobial Resistance in Enterobacterales in One Health Settings

The abundant usage of antimicrobials in livestock in the past has allowed for farms to grow while keeping transmission of pathogens in check. As this resulted in the selection and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), many countries have now put restrictions on their usage and aimed at disease prevention.

Disinfection of stables and equipment using biocide chemicals has become a standard, but resistance to biocides also exist in bacterial communities. The abundant use of biocides may be selecting for resistance against biocides, similar as AMR-genes. Specifically, if biocide resistance occurs in AMR bacteria, the usage of biocides may contribute to the indirect selection of AMR.

As part of the National Action Plans against AMR, many countries are starting to monitor antimicrobial usage and AMR bacteria in the food chain. Specifically in the EU, harmonised monitoring is now mandatory and has been in place for several years at National Reference Laboratories (NRLs).

As whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has become widely available, NRLs can use these data to investigate the prevalence of biocide resistance and confirm an association with AMR. Furthermore, generating WGS data from their isolate collections can indicate changes over time. In low and middle income nations, the usage of antimicrobials and biocides historically has been different.

Comparisons will therefore be made of WGS data of collected isolates, but also of the usage of, and attitude towards antimicrobials and biocides in European countries and a low-and-middle income country in Africa.

Objectives

The overall aim for BIORESIST is to assess the potential effects that increased usage of biocides

may have on the indirect selection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in various One Health reservoirs.

Secondary objectives include:

• Develop standarized methods for testing of phenotypic resistance to different biocide compounds
   
• Perform bacterial sequence data analysis for biocide resistance using material obtained from harmonised surveillance of poultry and humans in Norway
   
• Explore practise and attitudes to biocide usage on poultry farms in European countries, including Norway
   
• Investigate co-linkage of biocide resistance and antimicrobial resistance genes, and movement of associated mobile genetic elements. Determine possible novel genetic markers for biocide resistance
   
• Map biocide usage in poultry farms, perform genomic biocide resistance investigation, and contribute to genomics and bioinformatics capacity building in Tanzania

Cooperation partners

Wageningen University (Netherlands, lead), Norwegian Veterinary Institute (Norway), Animal and Plant Health Agency (UK), Sciensano (Belgium), Tanzanian Veterinary Laboratory Agency (Tanzania)