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Construction of new roads aids dispersal of antibiotic resistant bacteria

This story isn’t so much about the microbiology of the built environment… it’s more about the effect of the built environment on microbiology.

A group of researchers from various institutions recently examined the effects of new road construction on the dispersal of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (E. coli in this case).  While perhaps not surprising that the increased person-person contact created by new roads would spread bacteria, it is interesting that the presence of the road was more important for the spread of resistant strains than was actual antibiotic usage by individuals in the affected villages.

 

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David Coil

David Coil is a Project Scientist in the lab of Jonathan Eisen at UC Davis. David works at the intersection between research, education, and outreach in the areas of the microbiology of the built environment, microbial ecology, and bacterial genomics. Twitter

One thought on “Construction of new roads aids dispersal of antibiotic resistant bacteria

  1. One thing that they did not mention is the movement of livestock from one area to the next over roads. It would be interesting to see what effect there was between the ratio of livestock vs. people traveling roads and spread of antibiotic resistance.

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