Investigation of Incidents and Trends of Antimicrobial Resistance in Foodborne Pathogens in Eight Countries from Historical Sample Data

Katherine Yang, Annie Wang, Matthew Fu, Aaron Wang, Kevin Chen, Qian Jia and Zuyi Huang
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Katherine Yang: Department of Chemical Engineering, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Annie Wang: Department of Chemical Engineering, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Matthew Fu: Department of Chemical Engineering, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Aaron Wang: Department of Chemical Engineering, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Kevin Chen: Department of Chemical Engineering, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Qian Jia: Department of Health, Nutrition & Exercise Sciences, Immaculata University, Immaculata, PA 19345, USA
Zuyi Huang: Department of Chemical Engineering, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) causes millions of illnesses every year, threatening the success of lifesaving antibiotic therapy and, thus, public health. To examine the rise and spread of antimicrobial resistance around the world, our study performs a multivariate statistical analysis of antimicrobial resistance gene data from eight different countries: the US, the UK, China, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. Multi-dimensional data points were projected onto a two-dimensional plane using principal component analysis and organized into a dendrogram utilizing hierarchical clustering to identify significant AMR genes and pathogens. Outlier genes/pathogens were typically involved in high occurrences of antimicrobial resistance, and they were able to indicate the trend of antimicrobial resistance in the future. Statistical analysis of the data identified: (1) tet(A) , aph(3″)-Ib , aph(6)-Id , blaEC , blaTEM-1 , qacEdelta1 , sul1 , sul2 , and aadA1 as the nine most common AMR genes among the studied countries; (2) Salmonella enterica and E. coli and Shigella as the most common AMR foodborne pathogens; and (3) chicken as the most prevalent meat carrier of antimicrobial resistance. Our study shows that the overall number of reported antimicrobial resistance cases in foodborne pathogens is generally rising. One potential contributing factor for this is the increasing antimicrobial usage in the growing livestock industry.

Keywords: foodborne pathogens; antimicrobial resistance; principal component analysis; hierarchical clustering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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