An official website of the United States government.
The overall goal of this research is to combine the research expertise of the Food Animal Health Research Program to enhance the understanding of the microbiology, epidemiology and pathogenesis of zoonotic pathogens and develop effective control strategies for these infectious agents of livestock that have potential for zoonotic transmission. Towards this end, we propose to investigate the following aspects of several zoonotic pathogens for which food-producing animals serve as reservoirs. Understand the mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis of zoonotic pathogens of food safety and public health concerns. Understand immunity to these pathogens using animal models. Understand the epidemiology and ecology of these foodborne zoonotic pathogens in the food producing animals, fresh produce and their production environments. Understand the routes of interspecies transmission of zoonotic pathogens Develop and evaluate vaccines, therapeutics, adjuvants, and diagnostics for foodborne zoonotic pathogens.
<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/> Foodborne and waterborne diseases constitute a significant burden for public health. More than two-thirds of infectious diseases affecting humans are zoonotic and food producing animals including poultry serve as reservoir for these pathogens. Furthermore, for many of zoonotic diseases there is are effective vaccine or control measures and the use of antibiotics is complicated either by the emergence of resistant bacteria. Together, these public health and safety concerns underscore the critical need for integrated research efforts to better understand the ecology and epidemiology of zoonoses, pathogenesis and immune response to these zoonotic pathogens so that effective strategies can be developed to prevent the dissemination of these organisms in the environment and limit the spread of these zoonotic agents to humans. The focus of this project
will be to: 1) understand the ecology and epidemiology of the zoonotic pathogens in animal reservoirs and their environment, 2) investigate the occurrence, dissemination and ecological fitness of antibiotic resistant pathogens and 3) develop and evaluate efficient methods/strategies and models for the detection and prevention of zoonotic pathogens in the farm to table continuum.
<p>APPROACH:<br/> Methods & Analysis Due to the wide variety of zoonotic pathogens that may emerge as potential public health threats, the specific methods will vary from individual project to project. However, our underlying strategy is to use a hypothesis-driven research approach to provide sound scientific data concerning the research problems investigated. Research may include development and/or utilization of animal models of infection to characterize mechanisms of pathogenesis and pathogen/host interactions. These include studies of pathogenesis and comparative pathogenesis, interspecies transmission of pathogens, understanding the molecular basis of pathogenesis, studies of pathogen and host gene expression and characterization of host genetic risk factors for disease susceptibility. We will exploit current advances in the detection of gene and protein expression
patterns to assess disease progression, and to seek unique host cellular signatures indicative of infection and/or protective immune responses. Studies of the natural rates of horizontal gene transfer, especially of plasmid-encoded toxins and antibiotic resistance factors, in the microbial ecosystems likely to be most exposed to foodborne pathogens. For the studies on epidemiology of infections in natural non-human and human hosts, we will use extensive in-field sampling strategies coupled with epidemiological practices targeted at identifying factors that influence the distribution, acquisition, course and severity of human disease. This will also include studies on pathogens in the environment and non-food-producing vectors, when those studies may contribute to the understanding of factors bearing on emergence, transmission, persistence, development of virulence, host switching, and/or
epidemic/epizootiologic thresholds as they directly pertain to human disease. The unique gnotobiotic and specific pathogen free animal facilities (piglets and calves) available at the FAHRP will be used to study the microbial community population structure, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics and impact of probiotic or prebiotic or symbiotic interventions for infectious diseases using these animals as models. This approach has provided researchers with the unparalleled opportunity to discover how diet and bacterial populations in newborn animals modulate and influence the animals' response to infection. For food safety studies, targeting each specific group of individuals (producers) with tailored food safety messages that address their biases and pre-existing beliefs will enhance adoption and assist them in making more informed decisions about their health. This mental model approach
to message development and delivery can be applied to a variety of topics and will enhance the effectiveness of other outreach and engagement activities.