Antimicrobial resistance in foodborne <i>Salmonella enterica</i> isolates in the Republic of Belarus

Introduction. Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health concern. Salmonella spp., which can be transmitted to humans through contaminated food, are among the most important foodborne pathogens worldwide. Materials and methods. The antimicrobial resistance of 358 bacterial isolates collected from food and water in the Republic of Belarus (Belarus) in 20182021 was studied by analyzing phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of antibiotic bacterial resistance. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry was used to classify and identify bacteria. Phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility of bacteria was measured by the minimum inhibitory concentration method using a Sensititre automated bacteriological analyzer and the disk diffusion test for 45 antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial resistance genes in multidrug-resistant Salmonella isolates were identified by whole-genome sequencing. Results. The in vitro testing of phenotypic bacterial susceptibility showed high susceptibility to fluoroquinolones (97.2%), third-generation cephalosporins (93.9%), carbapenems (98.0%), ampicillin (81.8%), aminoglycosides (97.5%), tetracyclines (87.5%), chloramphenicol (93.8%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (co-trimoxazole) (95.3%) and colistin (85.2%). It was found that the antibiotic resistance mechanism in S. enterica was associated with the presence of genes blaTEM-1B (82%), blaTEM-1C (7.7%), blaSHV-12 (2.6%), blaDHA-1 (2.6%), blaCMY-2 (7.7%), qnrB2 (9.1%), qnrB4 (9.1%), qnrB5 (9.1%), qnrB19 (72.7%), aac(6)-Ib-cr (9.1%), aac(6)-Iaa (100%), aadA1 (13.2%), aadA2 (8.8%), tetB (74.3%), tetA (25.7%), tetM (2.9%), tetD (28.6%), mcr-9 (1.5%). Conclusion. All the bacterial isolates were phenotypically susceptible to first-line antibiotics used in treatment of salmonellosis: fluoroquinolones and third-generation cephalosporins. The whole-genome sequencing of multidrug-resistant Salmonella isolates (19.0%) detected resistance genes for 9 groups of antibiotics: aminoglycosides (100%), beta-lactams (57.4%), fluoroquinolones (16.2%), tetracyclines (51.5%), macrolides (1.5%), phenicols (30.4%), trimethoprim (13.0%), sulfonamides (47.8%) and colistin (1.4%). Thus, epidemiological surveillance of the Salmonella spread through the food chain is of critical importance for the monitoring of antimicrobial resistance among foodborne Salmonella

Harmonizing circumpolar monitoring of Arctic fox: benefits, opportunities, challenges and recommendations

Source at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1319602 The biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council has developed pan-Arctic biodiversity monitoring plans to improve our ability to detect, understand and report on long-term change in Arctic biodiversity. The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) was identified as a target of future monitoring because of its circumpolar distribution, ecological importance and reliance on Arctic ecosystems. We provide the first exhaustive survey of contemporary Arctic fox monitoring programmes, describing 34 projects located in eight countries. Monitored populations covered equally the four climate zones of the species’ distribution, and there were large differences between populations in long-term trends, multi-annual fluctuations, diet composition, degree of competition with red fox and human interferences. Den density, number of active dens, number of breeding dens and litter size were assessed in almost all populations, while projects varied greatly with respect to monitoring of other variables indicative of population status, ecosystem state or ecosystem function. We review the benefits, opportunities and challenges to increased integration of monitoring projects. We argue that better harmonizing protocols of data collection and data management would allow new questions to be addressed while adding tremendous value to individual projects. However, despite many opportunities, challenges remain. We offer six recommendations that represent decisive progress toward a better integration of Arctic fox monitoring projects. Further, our work serves as a template that can be used to integrate monitoring efforts of other species, thereby providing a key step for future assessments of global biodiversity