INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE EPIZOOTIC PATHOGENIC BACTERIA IN SWINE AND CATTLE

The purpose of the proposed research is to develop and implement gastrointestinal management strategies that will reduce food-borne pathogen colonization of food-producing animals, particularly swine and cattle. Specific objectives are to: 1) Identify ecological factors impacting attachment and energy metabolism of enteropathogens within the gut and determine if the host¿s hormonal status can be exploited to develop alternatives to antibiotics that can decrease the competitive fitness and thus the carriage of zoonotic and enteric pathogens in food animals; 2) determine if feeding an experimental chlorate product to food-producing animals in field situations will result in the selective killing of E. coli and Salmonella; 3) determine if administration of appropriate amounts of chlorate, competitive exclusion cultures, nitrocompounds, bacteriophage, or quorum sensing inhibitors can effectively reduce carriage of zoonotic pathogens, thereby providing producers new environmentally compatible alternatives to antibiotics; and 4) establish a quantitative model assessing risks of selective factors impacting antimicrobial resistance acquisition and persistence. Our proposed research should ultimately reduce the probability and consequences of acquiring food-borne disease or antimicrobial resistant microbes.