Poster Presentation Freshwater Sciences 2023

Environmental factors influencing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae dissemination in lower ecological trophic networks of a multiuse river (#632)

Cristian López-López 1 , S. Mazeika Patricio Sullivan 2 , Dixie Mollenkopf 3 , Jiyoung Lee 4 , Thomas E Wittum 3
  1. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
  2. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University, Georgetown, SC, USA
  3. Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
  4. Division of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is a critically important threat to human and animal health. Because surface water is a resource shared by both humans and animals, it can serve as an exposure medium for introducing and disseminating CRE into previously unexposed animal and human populations. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have high levels of antibiotic-resistant genes spreading into the environment, but the dissemination of CRE into riverine food webs remains largely unknown. We sampled riverine food webs (insects, fish, periphyton, phytoplankton, detritus) and physicochemical drivers (morphology, water chemistry) at six WWTPs in Ohio (Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland), USA. We are developing trophic networks based on these field-collected data to model CRE transmission. We anticipate that findings from this work will contribute important information to the transmission ecology of CRE resistance across complex environmental gradients, information that is essential for identifying critical control points and effective interventions.