NEW CRP: Innovative Nuclear and Related Molecular Approaches for Detection and Characterization of Antimicrobial Resistance in Animal Production Environment

The IAEA is calling on research organizations to join its new five-year Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on innovative nuclear and related molecular approaches for detection and characterization of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animal production environment. Causing over a million deaths annually, AMR is a global health concern, dubbed as a ‘silent pandemic’.

Stable isotope and molecular/genomic techniques offer powerful culture-independent approaches to detect potential antimicrobial resistance in farm animal environment samples. Antimicrobial agents have long been used at sub-therapeutic levels in livestock feed as growth promoters to improve production efficiency. Although such antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) have provided benefits to livestock industry, their use contribute to the emergence of resistance among microbes in the gut environment. Hence, identifying effective alternatives to AGPs will be an important approach to reduce antimicrobial usage in animal production settings.