AWARDS | Innovation Grant
Transport of Tetracycline and Tetracycline Resistance Genes in Poultry Farm Soils and Aquifer Materials: Influence on Bacterial Tetracycline Resistance
Yaqi You, First Year PhD. Student, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, JHU
The widespread use of antibiotics in poultry production facilities introduces antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) into soils. This can lead to an amplification of antibiotic resistance (AR) in microbial communities at locations remote from the production facilities (e.g., in downstream water bodies), which may in turn threaten human and animal health, particularly in the case of antibiotic resistant pathogens (ARP) and thus antibiotic resistant infections (ARI). One growing concern is concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which are important man-made reservoirs of ARB. The combined presence of antibiotics released to soil from CAFOs (selective pressure) and ARG leads to an amplification in ARG in soil bacteria (genetic recipients), and could ultimately cause an increase in ARI. However, few studies have explored the role of CAFOs in the rise of ARB in the subsurface and quantified the transfer of AR in the subsurface. We hypothesize that the propagation of ARG is directly related to the subsurface transport of antibiotics. To explore this hypothesis we will perform laboratory experiments with soil/aquifer materials from a poultry farm and the antibiotic tetracycline (Tc). 
Results Research in progress
See Other Related Projects Tetracycline Transport Through Poultry Farm Soils and Aquifer Materials: Influence on Bacterial Tetracycline Resistance (2005)
Markus Hilpert, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, JHU The Impact of Poultry Litter as Fertilizer on the Bacteriological Quality of Leafy Vegetables (2004)
Jay Graham, MBA, MPH, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Environmental Health Sciences Mass Spectrometric Determination of Microbial Pathogens in Waste Streams of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (2003)
Jochen Heidler, MS, Doctoral Student, Department of Environmental Health Sciences | 
