Investigation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in seafood products and risk of exposure to these by consumers in the UK

英国海鲜产品中抗生素耐药细菌以及消费者接触这些细菌的风险的调查

• 批准号: 2418963
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Royal Veterinary College
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2418963
• 关键词: Investigation; antibiotic; resistant; bacteria; seafood

A large amount of seafood consumed in the UK are imported from countries outside the EU, where the use of antibiotics is often poorly regulated. In the UK -similarly to other EU countries-, there is no national surveillance of AMR in seafood products; the extent of AMR in seafood is currently unknown. This could be a public health risk as seafood often is consumed undercooked or raw. This study aims to investigate the occurrence of ARGs in seafood and assess the risk of exposure of British consumers.Our objectives are: 1) to determine the prevalence of ARGs at retail level; 2) to investigate the level of similarity between ARGs from seafood and human clinical isolates to generate hypothesis for potential AMR exposure of consumers through seafood; and, 3) to assess the persistence of ARGs from harvest until the moment of consumption.Methods. A systematic review will be conducted by the PhD candidate to explore ARGs isolated from seafood products in the food chain in different countries. A probabilistic sampling of a variety of domestic and imported seafood items at retail level will performed in the south of England. Fifty samples of each of seafood product (e.g., imported versus domestically produced, frozen versus fresh items, 'ready-to-eat' products of fish and shellfish) will be obtained at post-harvest level to estimate a prevalence of 50% of ARGs, with a precision of 14% and a 95% confidence level. Multiplex PCR will be used to investigate the presence of ARGs. Isolates will be catalogued and stored for further sequencing (i.e., WGS) if ARGs of public health interest are detected. Similarities between ARGs from seafood (and potentially other food sources) and human clinical isolates will be explored. Human isolates data will be obtained through publicly available foodborne disease surveillance data (i.e. Public Health England and/or European Food Safety Authority's surveillance annual reports in zoonotic and indicator bacteria from humans, animals and food) and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) databases. This assessment will be used to generate hypothesis on potential exposure and burden of foodborne disease. Probabilistic models will be used to simulate the impact of conservation and preparation methods in the survival of bacterial strains and persistence of ARGs in seafood products from post-harvest onwards and likely exposure of British consumers. The findings of this project will help to inform the discussion of policy-makers regarding the potential food safety risks associated with AMR in seafood.

英国消费的大量海鲜是从欧盟以外的国家进口的，这些国家对抗生素的使用往往监管不力。与其他欧盟国家类似，英国没有对海产品中的抗生素耐药性进行全国性监测;海产品中抗生素耐药性的程度目前尚不清楚。这可能是一个公共卫生风险，因为海鲜通常是未煮熟或生食的。本研究旨在调查海产品中ARGs的存在情况，并评估英国消费者的暴露风险。我们的目标是：1）确定零售水平ARGs的流行率; 2）调查海产品中ARGs与人类临床分离株之间的相似程度，以产生消费者通过海产品潜在AMR暴露的假设;和，3）评估从收获到消费的时刻ARGs的持久性。博士候选人将进行系统性审查，以探索不同国家食物链中从海鲜产品中分离出的ARG。将在英格兰南部对零售层面的各种国产和进口海鲜产品进行概率抽样。每种海产品各取五十个样本（例如，进口与国产、冷冻与新鲜、鱼类和贝类的“即食”产品）将在收获后水平获得，以估计50%的ARG流行率，精确度为14%，置信度为95%。将使用多重PCR来研究ARG的存在。分离株将被编目并储存以供进一步测序（即，WGS），如果检测到具有公共卫生利益的ARG。将探索来自海鲜（以及可能的其他食物来源）和人类临床分离株的ARG之间的相似性。人类分离株数据将通过公开的食源性疾病监测数据（即英国公共卫生局和/或欧洲食品安全局对人类、动物和食物中人畜共患病和指示细菌的监测年度报告）和全基因组测序（WGS）数据库获得。该评估将用于生成关于食源性疾病的潜在暴露和负担的假设。概率模型将用于模拟保护和制备方法对细菌菌株存活的影响，以及从收获后开始海产品中ARGs的持久性和英国消费者可能的接触。该项目的研究结果将有助于为政策制定者关于海产品中与AMR相关的潜在食品安全风险的讨论提供信息。