Abstract View
Investigating the Effects of Environmental Factors on the Spread of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in a Dairy Facility
HYOUNGMOOK PAK, Maria King, Texas A&M University
Abstract Number: 502
Working Group: Bioaerosols
Abstract
Widespread use and availability of antibiotics has led to infectious and pathogenic bacteria developing antibiotic resistance. Various environmental factors, such as temperature, relative humidity, and wind, can also induce stress in bacterial cells, activating antibiotic resistance genes to increase their survivability against harsh and extreme conditions. These bacteria can survive for a longer time and travel further distances if they become airborne, which is the case in many livestock facilities. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was utilized to examine the movement of bioaerosols within and around the dairy facility. CFD simulation results were compared with experimental results, such as air velocity measurements and microbiome data, to confirm and validate their accuracies. In this research, aerosol and manure samples were collected from multiple locations throughout an open stall dairy facility in summer and winter. Temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity measurements at each sampling location were also recorded. In both summer and winter, antibiotic resistance mapping revealed that bacteria showed strong resistance against different antibiotics in the southwestern and northeastern sides of the facility. This was due to wind blowing towards the east-northeast direction and 36 axial fans in the facility generating wind towards the northern side of the dairy facility. Air flow streamlines and air velocities calculated by the CFD simulations using ANSYS closely matched with experimental measurements. Microbiome analysis and principal coordinate analysis revealed that relative abundance of bacteria sequences was correlated with sampling locations, temperature, and relative humidity. These experimental and simulation results indicate that environmental factors do affect the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria in a dairy facility and CFD can be used to track their movement.