Interventions to control the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance from chickens through the environment

 

The research project ENVIRE consists of an international consortium of researchers in France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Tunisia. The project runs from 2022 to 2025 and is part of the European Transnational Programme “One Health interventions to prevent or reduce the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance” (JPIAMR-ACTION). The respective national funding bodies fund the consortium.

The overall objective of the project ENVIRE is to contribute to the reduction of the selection and the spread of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in broiler chickens and from chicken farms to the environment, and ultimately to humans.

Different intervention studies will investigate the potential of various on-farm measures:

I)                 Antibiotic-free chicken raising,

II)                Phytotherapy as alternative for antibiotics,

III)              Escherichia coli vaccination,

IV)              Application of bacteriophages,

V)                Treatment or storage of manure,

VI)              Depollution of farm effluents to remove antibiotics and their residues.

Focus will be laid on ESBL Escherichia coli and Enterobacteriaceae and on resistance against fluoroquinolones as well as colistin.

A quantitative risk assessment model will be developed and used to assess the effectiveness as well as potential synergistic effects of the interventions, to reduce human exposure via the foodborne, occupational and environmental pathways. Data already available for the participating countries will be included in the model and new, essential data will be generated within the studies. As a result, specific as well as general interventions will be identified that have the potential to reduce antimicrobial resistance in chicken and in the environment of chicken farms for Europe and Tunisia. To achieve this, six working groups from Germany, France, Lithuania, Poland, and Tunisia, bundle their leading expertise for the respective issue.

Download the fact sheet and poster here.