Potential bio-hazard
Manure from dairy animals is commonly used as fertiliser. But it has now emerged that manure from farm animals has a diverse set of antibiotic resistance genes that are passed into it from the animal’s gut. Use of manure as fertiliser transfers these gene-carrying bacteria to the soil from where they can be released into the environment. Such genes could get transferred to humans in two ways—through their host bacteria colonising humans or through the host bacteria infecting other bacteria that colonise humans. In either scenario, animal dung could cause antibiotic resistance in humans. This raises the need for active surveillance of such bacteria. mBio,April22