Our Scientific Discoveries

A study by ARAC researchers and collaborators suggests that Escherichia coli and other disease-causing microbes are passing easily between humans and animals in Cambodia, a country where clean water, sanitation and hygienic controls are lacking in many regions. The continuous exchange, along with unregulated antibiotic use, leads to the emergence and spread of drug-resistant E. coli. The study, “Plugging the leaks: antibiotic resistance at  human-animal interfaces in low-resource settings,” was published Sept. 19, 2023.

A study by ARAC researchers suggests that E. coli from meat products may be responsible for hundreds of thousands of urinary tract infections in the U.S. each year. A team of scientists, led by ARAC co-directors Lance B. Price and Cindy Liu, developed a new genomic approach for tracking the origins of E. coli infections. Using this method, the team estimated that between 480,000 and 640,000 urinary tract infections in the United States each year may be caused by foodborne E. coli strains. Read the study.

The USDA approves meat labels with claims such as ‘No Antibiotics Ever,’ ‘No Added Antibiotics’ and ‘Raised without Antibiotics’, but how confident can shoppers be that they are, in fact, getting what they paid for? Not very, according to a study published in Science that found that a substantial portion of cattle destined for the ‘Raised without Antibiotics’ market have been given antibiotics. Read the study.

Members of ARAC's research team were co-authors of a new study "Transmission of Antimicrobial-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clonal Complex 9 between Pigs and Humans" published in March 2021. In the study, researchers sequenced the DNA of bacteria found in pigs and people in rural eastern North Carolina, an area with concentrated industrial-scale pig-farming. Their findings suggest that multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains are spreading between pigs, farmworkers, their families and community residents, and represents an emerging public health threat. Read the press release. Read the study.

In December 2020, Cindy Liu and Lance Price co-authored a paper in Nature Microbiology along with colleagues from the University of Luxembourg showing how molecular parasites – including bacterial viruses and plasmids – shape bacterial populations in wastewater treatment plants over time. You may be asking: Why would public health researchers care about bacteria in wastewater treatment plants? It turns out that bacteria are the biochemical engines of these essential sanitation systems. Bacterial populations and communities can evolve over time effecting the performance of the system.

New findings published in the American Society for Microbiology’s open access journal mBio revel that a strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) found in retail chicken and turkey products may cause a wide range of infections in people. Researchers knew that E. coli could be passed from person-to-person in the community and in hospitals. However, this study, “Escherichia coli ST131-H22 as a Foodborne Uropathogen,” provides evidence that the E. coli lurking in fresh poultry products can be passed to people, leading to bladder infections and other serious conditions. Read the press release and study for more details.

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment published a review, "Food-animal production and the spread of antibiotic resistance: the role of ecology," that outlines how tracking bacterial movement between humans and animals is key to understanding antibiotic resistance. It examines how genomic data are elucidating, in unprecedented detail, the pathways by which antibiotic-resistant bacteria move between food animals and humans. Applying basic ecological principles can help organize this new knowledge to better monitor, understand and manage the spread of antibiotic resistance. Read the review.

Most Infections Occurred in People Who Had No Contact with Farm Animals

A study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases found that livestock-associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) can cause serious bloodstream infections in people. Researchers studied blood stream infections caused by all strains of MRSA in Denmark from 2010 to 2014 and found that blood infections from LA-MRSA were on the rise, peaking in 2014 and accounting for 16 percent of all MRSA bloodstream infections. Read the study and the press release for more details.

Study suggests people in urban areas with no exposure to livestock are becoming infected with poultry-associated MRSA via meat

New findings published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases suggest a novel form of the dangerous superbug Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can spread to humans through consumption or handling of contaminated poultry. The research shows that poultry may be a source of human exposure to MRSA, a superbug which can cause serious infections and even death. Read the study and the press release for more details.

Study Is First To Link Klebsiella-Contaminated Food to Urinary and Blood Infections

Findings show that contaminated meat sold in grocery stories may be an important source of human exposure to Klebsiella pneumoniae. The research is the first to link Klebsiella contaminated food to urinary and blood infections. Read the study and press release for more details.

Study suggests that bacteria of the human nose are not genetically predetermined and that some nasal bacteria may protect against MRSA

Findings published in the AAAS journal Science Advances demonstrate that nasal microbiota is not fixed by host genetics and opens the possibility that nasal microbiota may be manipulated to prevent or eliminate S. aureus colonization. Read the study and press release for more details.

Dr. Lance Price has been working on the antibiotic resistance crisis for nearly 20 years. Visit our research archive to see his entire portfolio of scientific discoveries.