Zoonotic infections infections in livestock and the risk to public health - Poster Abstract

WELLCOME TRUST INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP RESEARCH AWARD IN VETERINARY EPIDEMIOLOGY

Epidemiology and evolution of Enterobacteriaceae in domestic animals and humans

M. E. J. Woolhouse, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh

Food-borne, zoonotic enterobacteria are of increasing importance to public health and animal welfare. This research programme is focussing mainly on Escherichia coli (especially serotype O157:H7 and other VTEC) and Salmonella spp. (especially S. typhimurium DT104) and on antibiotic resistance in these and other bacteria in cattle and humans in Scotland. The aims of the research are to determine:

the epidemiological relationships between bacterial infections of cattle and humans;
how antibiotic resistance and virulence factors are distributed in bacteria infecting cattle and humans and to what extent and by what mechanisms they move between host populations;
whether changes in the management of bacterial infections of cattle are likely to lead to changes in the degree or nature of the risk of human infection.

Addressing these aims requires an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach and there are six component projects within the Partnership:

transmission dynamics in the field by the University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Agricultural College;
peri and post harvest risk identification and quantification of foodborne transmission by Glasgow University, the University of Guelph and the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health;
transfer of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes between host populations by the University of Edinburgh;
novel molecular approaches to study enterohaemorrhagic E. coli by Imperial College, London;
population dynamics of antibiotic resistance and virulence plasmids and shiga toxin-encoding phages by Emory University, USA;
distribution and spread of antibiotic resistance within cattle farms by the University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Agricultural College.

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