Diverse and abundant antibiotic resistance genes in Chinese swine farms

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are emerging contaminants posing a potential worldwide human health risk. Intensive animal husbandry is believed to be a major contributor to the increased environmental burden of ARGs. Despite the volume of antibiotics used in China, little information is available regarding the corresponding ARGs associated with animal farms. We assessed type and concentrations of ARGs at three stages of manure processing to land disposal at three large-scale (10,000 animals per year) commercial swine farms in China. In-feed or therapeutic antibiotics used on these farms include all major classes of antibiotics except vancomycins. High-capacity quantitative PCR arrays detected 149 unique…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: 2121008
• MS
  Michigan State University
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China
• CO
  College of Engineering, Michigan State University