Overview:
This presentation discussed findings of widespread antibiotic resistance in the environment. Massive amounts of human and animal waste applied to agricultural fields alter the global “resistome.” Wildlife never exposed to antibiotics harbor antibiotic resistant bacteria in their feces. The Human Microbiome project has found that microbial cells outnumber human cells by an estimated 10-fold, fundamentally changing our perceptions about health and disease. Taken together, the findings of antibiotic resistance in external and internal environments suggest that human antibiotic use has altered global microbial populations in ways that we do not fully understand. We are fast approaching a post antibiotic era. This presents challenges and opportunities and will require a One Health approach to succeed.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the 21st century challenges posed by the growing human population and its increasing demands for terrestrial and aquatic animal proteins.
2. Develop familiarity with metagenomics and “The Global Resistome.”
3. Understand how open defecation jeopardizes human, animal, and environmental health.
4. Understand how application of manure to agricultural fields alters the global “resistome” and harms global health.
Speaker:
Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP
Research Scholar
Program on Science and Global Security
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Princeton University
Co-Founder, One Health Initiative, http://www.onehealthinitiative.com
Columnist, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, http://www.thebulletin.org
