Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 31;77(4):969-978.
doi: 10.1093/jac/dkac002.

Risk factors for the abundance of antimicrobial resistance genes aph(3')-III, erm(B), sul2 and tet(W) in pig and broiler faeces in nine European countries

Dongsheng Yang  1 , Dick J J Heederik  1 , Dik J Mevius  2   3 , Peter Scherpenisse  1 , Roosmarijn E C Luiken  1 , Liese Van Gompel  1 , Magdalena Skarżyńska  4 , Katharina Wadepohl  5 , Claire Chauvin  6 , Eri Van Heijnsbergen  1 , Inge M Wouters  1 , Gerdit D Greve  1 , Betty G M Jongerius-Gortemaker  1 , Monique Tersteeg-Zijderveld  1 , Magdalena Zając  4 , Dariusz Wasyl  4 , Katharina Juraschek  7 , Jennie Fischer  7 , Jaap A Wagenaar  2 , Lidwien A M Smit  1 , Heike Schmitt  1   8 ; EFFORT consortium
Affiliations

Risk factors for the abundance of antimicrobial resistance genes aph(3')-III, erm(B), sul2 and tet(W) in pig and broiler faeces in nine European countries

Dongsheng Yang et al. J Antimicrob Chemother. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Objectives: The occurrence and zoonotic potential of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in pigs and broilers has been studied intensively in past decades. Here, we describe AMR levels of European pig and broiler farms and determine the potential risk factors.

Methods: We collected faeces from 181 pig farms and 181 broiler farms in nine European countries. Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to quantify the relative abundance of four antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) [aph(3')-III, erm(B), sul2 and tet(W)] in these faeces samples. Information on antimicrobial use (AMU) and other farm characteristics was collected through a questionnaire. A mixed model using country and farm as random effects was performed to evaluate the relationship of AMR with AMU and other farm characteristics. The correlation between individual qPCR data and previously published pooled metagenomic data was evaluated. Variance component analysis was conducted to assess the variance contribution of all factors.

Results: The highest abundance of ARG was for tet(W) in pig faeces and erm(B) in broiler faeces. In addition to the significant positive association between corresponding ARG and AMU levels, we also found on-farm biosecurity measures were associated with relative ARG abundance in both pigs and broilers. Between-country and between-farm variation can partially be explained by AMU. Different ARG targets may have different sample size requirements to represent the overall farm level precisely.

Conclusions: qPCR is an efficient tool for targeted assessment of AMR in livestock-related samples. The AMR variation between samples was mainly contributed to by between-country, between-farm and within-farm differences, and then by on-farm AMU.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Relative abundance of four ARGs per country in pigs. The whiskers represent the IQR and the centre line represents the median. The asterisks show the mean in each country. Letters A–I represent the nine countries.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Relative abundance of four ARGs per country in broilers. The whiskers represent the IQR and the centre line represent the median. The asterisks show the mean in each country. Letters A–I represent the nine countries.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Associations between cleaning and disinfection level and relative erm(B) abundance in pigs in nine countries. Cleaning and disinfection: one of the subcategories of internal biosecurity. The blue line represents the linear relationship between ARG abundance and the score of cleaning and disinfection; the grey area around the line demonstrates the 95% CI. Letters A–I represent the nine countries.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Associations between cleaning and disinfection level and relative tet(W) abundance in broilers in nine countries. Cleaning and disinfection: one of the subcategories of internal biosecurity. The blue line represents the linear relationship between ARG abundance and the score of cleaning and disinfection; the grey area around the line demonstrates the 95% CI. Letters A–I represent the nine countries.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Correlation of AMR between median individual qPCR data and pooled metagenomic data in pigs and broilers. FPKM, fragments per kilobase reference per million bacterial fragments. ARG targets: aph(3′)-III, erm(B), sul2, tet(W). The median of 5–7 individual qPCR results was calculated per farm before correlation analysis. Letters A–I represent the nine countries.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dorado-Garcia A, Bos MEH, Graveland Het al. . Risk factors for persistence of livestock-associated MRSA and environmental exposure in veal calf farmers and their family members: an observational longitudinal study. BMJ Open 2013; 3:e003272. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dohmen W, Schmitt H, Bonten Met al. . Air exposure as a possible route for ESBL in pig farmers. Environ Res 2017; 155: 359–64. - PubMed
    1. Notarnicola B, Tassielli G, Renzulli PAet al. . Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. J Clean Prod 2017; 140: 753–65.
    1. Holmes AH, Moore LS, Sundsfjord Aet al. . Understanding the mechanisms and drivers of antimicrobial resistance. Lancet 2016; 387: 176–87. - PubMed
    1. Murphy CP, Carson C, Smith BAet al. . Factors potentially linked with the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in selected bacteria from cattle, chickens and pigs: a scoping review of publications for use in modelling of antimicrobial resistance (IAM. AMR Project). Zoonoses Public Health 2018; 65: 957–71. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances