Identifying, Predicting, and Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Transmission

Rebecca Stumpf, Rachel Whitaker and Rebecca Smith of the University of Illinois in the U.S. will develop an approach that incorporates the role of many different organisms to track, model, and prevent the transmission of antimicrobial resistance in Western Uganda, where it is a major problem exacerbated by poverty and disease. It is not well understood how resistance to antibiotics spreads among bacteria. However, most analyses focus on the role of humans whereas animals are also likely to play an important role. They will sample the microbes present in a variety of wildlife, domestic animals, humans, insect vectors, and in water, located close to villages in Western Uganda, and determine the presence and abundance of antimicrobial resistance genes. They will then use social and demographic information to trace their routes of transmission between hosts, and develop a model that can predict spreading.