Reducing, Refining and Monitoring Antibiotic Use in Dairy Production

“乳腺炎是奶牛使用抗生素的主要原因，乳腺炎对奶牛的健康、福利、经济和环境的影响是相当大的。为了有效控制乳腺炎并尽量减少抗生素的使用，有必要确定并防止发生新的感染。近年来已经很清楚，引起乳腺炎的致病细菌菌株在农场上的表现存在很大差异。这些变异发生在每个物种内部，被称为亚种或品系变异。了解不同病原菌株的行为是预防乳腺炎的关键；它为治疗和预防策略提供信息，并使我们能够改进和减少抗生素的使用。除了减少和改进抗生素的使用，还需要监测抗生素使用对农场的影响。在这项研究中，我们的目标是创建一个快速通量的生物系统，以区分乳腺炎病原体菌株，从而最大限度地减少抗生素的使用。对于不同的群体，我们将预测他们的行为，从而预测最佳的治疗和预防方法。我们将首次创建一个快速通量系统，在亚种水平上识别乳腺炎病原体，并预测抗菌素耐药性特性和不同治疗策略成功的可能性。此外，我们将利用同样的技术开发一种方法来监测抗生素对奶牛场的影响，从而证明这是一种保护人类和动物健康并增强消费者信心的手段。”

"Mastitis is a major reason for antibiotic use is dairy cows and the health, welfare, economic and environmental impacts of mastitis in dairy cows are considerable. For mastitis control to be effective and to minimise antibiotic use, it is necessary to identify and prevent new infections from occurring. It has become clear in recent years that there is large variation in how pathogenic strains of bacteria that cause mastitis behave on farm. These variations occur within each species and are known as sub-species or strain variations. Understanding how different strains of pathogenic bacteria behave is the key to preventing mastitis; it informs both treatment and preventive strategies and allows us to refine and reduce antibiotic use. As well as reducing and refining antibiotic use, there is also a need to monitor the impact of antibiotic use on farms.In this research we aim to create a fast throughput biological system, to differentiate strains of mastitis pathogens so that the use of antibiotics can be minimised. For different groups, we will predict behaviour and hence optimal methods of treatment and prevention. We will create, for the first time, a fast throughput system that identifies mastitis pathogens at sub-species level and predicts antimicrobial resistance properties and likelihood of success of different therapeutic strategies. In addition, we will use the same technology to develop a method of monitoring the impact of antibiotic use on dairy farms thereby proving a means of safeguarding human and animal health and enhancing consumer confidence."