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Ecology from Farm to Fork Of microbial drug Resistance and Transmission (EFFORT)
Project
Project code: BfR-BIOS-08-1342-498
Contract period: 01.12.2013
- 30.11.2018
Budget: 476,264 Euro
Purpose of research: Inventory & Assessment
The EFFORT project is concerned with the epidemiology and ecology of antibiotic resistance as well as the interaction between bacterial communities, pathogenic pathogens in the animal, the food chain and the environment. This is achieved by combined epidemiological and ecological studies, using recently developed molecular and bioinformatic methods. Within the framework of the EFFORT project, an exposure assessment is carried out by persons who come into contact with livestock and their environment. The results of the investigations of the isolates are confirmed by in vitro and in vivo experiments. In addition, realistic studies on the reduction of antibiotics in animal medicine are carried out. The project is particularly focused on the eco-epidemiology of antibiotic resistance of animal origin, which is expected to predict and limit the development of resistance, as well as the possible threat to humans by clinically relevant resistances. For this purpose, several sources of information are to be combined in a model for predicting the development of resistances. The results of the EFFORT project are intended to provide the scientific data on the basis of which decision makers, scientific working groups and bodies, as well as other stakeholders, can assess the consequences of antibiotic resistance in the food chain, animal health and animal welfare as well as food safety taking into account economic aspects. Based on the data from EFFORT, political decisions can be made and focus is placed on risk management in the food chain. The EFFORT consortium consists of 20 partners from 10 European countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Switzerland. In the EFFORT project, the experienced researchers of the project combine the interdisciplinary research priorities of antibiotic resistance, food safety, epidemiology of food-borne pathogens, creation of risk models, and epidemiology from the environment, microbial ecology, exposure assessment and microbiology in animal medicine. Special knowledge on the preventive characterization of antibiotic resistance, the genetics and biology of DNA transfer mechanisms, the overall genome sequencing of bacteria and the economic consideration of animal diseases is representeted in the EFFORT project.
The use of antimicrobials invariably leads to selection of bacteria that are resistant against the substance used. Resistance can then spread in populations and the environment. In human medicine, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) leads to increased morbidity and mortality. Also in veterinary medicine the efficacity of antimicrobial treatments is declining and from several bacterial diseases multidrug resistant strains are circulating making these infections untreatable resulting in a high economic burden for the producers and animal welfare problems. The problem of treatment failure is amplified by the fact that new and effective antimicrobials are not currently being developed at a sufficient rate nor will they be developed at a higher rate in the near future. Antimicrobial resistance therefore poses a major threat to the continued efficacy of antimicrobial agents in both human and veterinary medicine. The EFFORT project was a multi-disciplinary research programme which investigated the epidemiology and ecology of antimicrobial resistance in food-producing animals, the (farm) environment, and food of animal origin, companion animals and wildlife to evaluate and quantify the AMR exposure pathways for humans. This was conducted by a combination of epidemiological and ecological studies using newly developed molecular and bio-informatics technologies. EFFORT included an exposure assessment of humans from animal and environmental sources. The ecological studies on isolates were verified by in vitro and in vivo studies. Moreover, real-life intervention studies were conducted with the aim to reduce the use of antimicrobials in veterinary practice. Focus was on understanding the eco-epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance from animal origin and based on this, predicting and limiting the future evolution and exposure to humans of the most clinically important resistance by synthesising different sources of information in our prediction models. The work was performed in nine countries in pig and poultry farms, and in selected countries on turkey, veal, and fish farms, in wildlife and companion animals. In two countries studies in pig and poultry slaughterhouses were included. The outcome of the project comprises several topics, amongst them, without being complete, AMU and AMR in participating countries with the identification of risk factors for AMR, approaches (supported by coaching) to explore and perform on-farm interventions to reduce AMU, the economic and animal welfare aspects of AMU and their relation with the interventions to reduce AMU, the use of metagenomics for source attribution, the use of metagenomics for research and future surveillance, and the spread of genes and plasmids. An important deliverable was a course on metagenomics that is on-line available. Most relevant results were either published or are in preparation for publication in scientific journals, and are made public through publicly available deliverables.
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal health
- Biotechnology
- Toxicology
