Insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western Canada
ABSTRACTIn North America, beef production relies on the administration of antimicrobials to manage disease. Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most significant disease of beef cattle, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to conventional therapies presents an existential risk to animal welfare and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2023-12-01
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| Series: | mSphere |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msphere.00317-23 |
| _version_ | 1827578225114480640 |
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| author | Daniel Kos Brittany Schreiner Stuart Thiessen Tim McAllister Murray Jelinski Antonio Ruzzini |
| author_facet | Daniel Kos Brittany Schreiner Stuart Thiessen Tim McAllister Murray Jelinski Antonio Ruzzini |
| author_sort | Daniel Kos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACTIn North America, beef production relies on the administration of antimicrobials to manage disease. Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most significant disease of beef cattle, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to conventional therapies presents an existential risk to animal welfare and food production. While AMR surveillance programs are poised to help facilitate antimicrobial stewardship and decision making at feedlots, monitoring strategies for large numbers of animals at an individual or group level are time consuming and costly. Accordingly, we completed a pilot investigation of feedlot water bowls, which is an understudied interface between cattle and bacteria. By performing cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent studies, we demonstrate that water bowl-dwelling bacteria can act as sentinel organisms for clinically relevant antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and that cattle have an impact on the microbial communities in the bowls. Moreover, by sampling water at a feedlot site before animal arrival, we detected resistance to two antibiotics: florfenicol and tulathromycin. After just 4 weeks of operation, multidrug-resistant bacteria were routinely found in most water bowls. A comparison of ARGs encoded by five water bowl bacterial isolates along with previously reported source and wastewater metagenomes to those found in BRD pathogens confirmed the utility of using water samples for AMR surveillance.IMPORTANCEA better understanding of how environmental reservoirs of ARGs in the feedlot relate to those found in animal pathogens will help inform and improve disease management, treatment strategies, and outcomes. Monitoring individual cattle or small groups is invasive, logistically challenging, expensive, and unlikely to gain adoption by the beef cattle industry. Wastewater surveillance has become standard in public health studies and has inspired similar work to better our understanding of AMR in feedlots. We derived our insights from sampling water bowls in a newly established feedlot: a unique opportunity to observe AMR prior to animal arrival and to monitor its development over 2 months. Importantly, the bacterial community of a single water bowl can be influenced by direct contact with hundreds of animals. Our results suggest that water bowl microbiomes are economical and pragmatic sentinels for monitoring relevant AMR mechanisms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:40:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-61e707724097442d804da8d23dd8c976 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2379-5042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:40:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | mSphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-61e707724097442d804da8d23dd8c9762023-12-20T14:01:03ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologymSphere2379-50422023-12-018610.1128/msphere.00317-23Insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western CanadaDaniel Kos0Brittany Schreiner1Stuart Thiessen2Tim McAllister3Murray Jelinski4Antonio Ruzzini5Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CanadaDepartment of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CanadaNamaka Farms, Inc., Outlook, Saskatchewan, CanadaLethbridge Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge, Alberta, CanadaDepartment of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CanadaDepartment of Veterinary Microbiology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CanadaABSTRACTIn North America, beef production relies on the administration of antimicrobials to manage disease. Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most significant disease of beef cattle, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to conventional therapies presents an existential risk to animal welfare and food production. While AMR surveillance programs are poised to help facilitate antimicrobial stewardship and decision making at feedlots, monitoring strategies for large numbers of animals at an individual or group level are time consuming and costly. Accordingly, we completed a pilot investigation of feedlot water bowls, which is an understudied interface between cattle and bacteria. By performing cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent studies, we demonstrate that water bowl-dwelling bacteria can act as sentinel organisms for clinically relevant antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and that cattle have an impact on the microbial communities in the bowls. Moreover, by sampling water at a feedlot site before animal arrival, we detected resistance to two antibiotics: florfenicol and tulathromycin. After just 4 weeks of operation, multidrug-resistant bacteria were routinely found in most water bowls. A comparison of ARGs encoded by five water bowl bacterial isolates along with previously reported source and wastewater metagenomes to those found in BRD pathogens confirmed the utility of using water samples for AMR surveillance.IMPORTANCEA better understanding of how environmental reservoirs of ARGs in the feedlot relate to those found in animal pathogens will help inform and improve disease management, treatment strategies, and outcomes. Monitoring individual cattle or small groups is invasive, logistically challenging, expensive, and unlikely to gain adoption by the beef cattle industry. Wastewater surveillance has become standard in public health studies and has inspired similar work to better our understanding of AMR in feedlots. We derived our insights from sampling water bowls in a newly established feedlot: a unique opportunity to observe AMR prior to animal arrival and to monitor its development over 2 months. Importantly, the bacterial community of a single water bowl can be influenced by direct contact with hundreds of animals. Our results suggest that water bowl microbiomes are economical and pragmatic sentinels for monitoring relevant AMR mechanisms.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msphere.00317-23antimicrobial resistancewaterwaterborne bacteriabeef cattle productionsurveillance study |
| spellingShingle | Daniel Kos Brittany Schreiner Stuart Thiessen Tim McAllister Murray Jelinski Antonio Ruzzini Insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western Canada mSphere antimicrobial resistance water waterborne bacteria beef cattle production surveillance study |
| title | Insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western Canada |
| title_full | Insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western Canada |
| title_fullStr | Insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western Canada |
| title_short | Insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western Canada |
| title_sort | insight into antimicrobial resistance at a new beef cattle feedlot in western canada |
| topic | antimicrobial resistance water waterborne bacteria beef cattle production surveillance study |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msphere.00317-23 |
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