A metagenomic analysis for combination therapy of multiple classes of antibiotics on the prevention of the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes.

Antibiotics used systemically to treat infections may have off-target effects on the gut microbiome, potentially resulting in the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria or selection of pathogenic species. These organisms may present a risk to the host and spread to the environment with a risk of transmission in the community. To investigate the risk of emergent antibiotic resistance in the gut microbiome following systemic treatment with antibiotics, this metagenomic analysis project used next-generation sequencing, a custom-built metagenomics pipeline, and differential abundance analysis to study the effect of antibiotics (ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, and fosfomycin) in monotherapy and different combinations at high and low doses, to determine the effect on resistome and taxonomic composition in the gut of Balb/c mice.

Draft Genome Sequence for Klebsiella michiganensis B199A, Originally Identified as Enterobacter aerogenes.

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of a strain of Klebsiella michiganensis originally identified as Enterobacter aerogenes B199A. This strain has been used as a Salmonella surrogate to study the effectiveness of handwashing and measure cross-contamination to and from a wide variety of surfaces and foods.

Initial and Final Cell Concentrations Significantly Influence the Maximum Growth Rate of Listeria monocytogenes in Published Literature Data for Whole Intact Fresh Produce.

Abstract: Listeria monocytogenes has shown the ability to grow on fresh uncut produce; however, the factors that control growth are not well understood. Peer-reviewed journal articles (n = 29) meeting the inclusion criteria and related to the growth of L. monocytogenes on fresh produce were found through university library databases and Google Scholar searches.

Modeling inactivation kinetics for Enterococcus faecium on the surface of peanuts during convective dry roasting.

Dry roasting can reduce Salmonella contamination on peanuts. While previous studies evaluated impact of product temperature, process humidity, product moisture, and/or product water activity on Salmonella lethality, no published study has tested multiple primary and secondary models on data collected in a real-world processing environment. We tested multiple primary and secondary models to quantify Salmonella surrogate, Enterococcus faecium, inactivation on peanuts.

Models for factors influencing pathogen survival in low water activity foods from literature data are highly significant but show large unexplained variance.

Factors that control pathogen survival in low water activity foods are not well understood and vary greatly from food to food. A literature search was performed to locate data on the survival of foodborne pathogens in low-water activity (<0.70) foods held at temperatures <37 °C.