An illustration of the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, which causes whooping cough. Photo: 123RF
A world-first study, led by the University of Canterbury, could help reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance, considered one of the greatest health threats facing humanity.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when pathogens like bacteria and fungi evolve to withstand antibiotics.
The project, which is currently a grant proposal, is being led by Professor Jack Heinemann of Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, University of Canterbury's School of Biological Sciences.
He said the research will map reservoirs of AMR across New Zealand to pinpoint areas of resistance, making it the first country in the world to know where its hot spots are located.
It's hoped the university's research could be adopted and used by governments, private businesses, and communities internationally.
"The reason it's a world first is because there aren't any countries yet on the scale that we are proposing to do this that have mapped their antimicrobial resistance so that they can apply a One Health approach to control the flow of antimicrobial resistance between the environment, agriculture and humans," he said.
"We have an advantage in New Zealand because we're an island and it's possible for us to limit the number of variables that could complicate a study like this."
"But at the same time, we're pretty big for such a study of this nature and that combined makes this a world first potential to tell us where resistance tends to accumulate, how to keep it there or eliminate it once we find it and work towards a world that doesn't just manage antimicrobial resistance but actually stamps it out."
The University of Canterbury professor said that in the last century, antibiotic-resistant microorganisms have spread across the land, air and water in far greater numbers as the world's population, antibiotic use, and industrial pollution have grown.
"The bacteria are now found everywhere, including places far removed from human activity like Antarctica and the bottom of the ocean," he said.
"So much of our existence is dependent on antibiotics because they're used to control infectious diseases as they arise and to grow crops and livestock to the levels we need to produce food for so many people. It's reached a point where it is now an existential threat to our way of life and even to our species."
"Even a small growth in the proportion of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics can cost the global healthcare system tens to hundreds of billions of dollars."
He said AMR was quickly becoming a massive challenge for the New Zealand health system and was being exacerbated by global events.
"In New Zealand, AMR is growing. We've had times where hospital wards have been closed because of superbugs, which are resistant to antimicrobials. We're also frequently getting resistance in our agricultural areas.
"Being an island, we control more variables than lots of other countries could control, and then the point of our study is to understand how we can track these sources of resistance.
"The problem with antimicrobial resistance is that it is growing to the point where it can no longer be ignored, and it is in magnitude and cost and in threat to your health well in excess of other kinds of threats that we do talk about quite a lot.
"Climate change, war, all these kinds of different pressures that we are under are further exacerbated by antimicrobial resistance as the weather changes.
"It changes the kinds of organisms that carry these pathogens into our communities and into agriculture, it changes their survival characteristics, flooding, for example, distributes them sometimes directly into our homes," he said.
A team of about six full-time staff, including two Māori researchers, three postdoctoral students and a graduate, will work alongside a network of volunteers and other organisations across the country that trap and kill pest animals to collect samples for testing.
Bioinformaticians will develop algorithms, assisted by machine learning, to see potential concerns emerge in real-time.
If successfully funded, the five-year project would cost less than $10 million, with research starting before the end of 2025.
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