# One Health Framework for Investigating Antimicrobial Resistant Enterobacterales Population Dynamics in Southwestern Virginia by Whole Genome Sequencing

> **NIH FDA U18** · VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV · 2022 · $38,309

## Abstract

Project Summary
Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to public health worldwide. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has identified extended spectrum beta lactamase-producing
Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) as a serious threat to public health, and these organisms cause
clinical infections in humans and a variety of veterinary species, including dogs and cats.
Therefore, it is essential to adopt a “One Health” approach to understand and combat
antimicrobial resistance. In addition, fecal carriage of the same strain of ESBL-E. coli has been
demonstrated to be shared between humans and pets in the same household. However, the
relationship between clinical isolates of ESBL-E isolated from infections in pets and people on a
population level is unclear. The aims of this study are to: 1) expand capacity of Virginia Tech
Animal Laboratory Services to perform whole genome sequencing and sequence analysis, and
2) determine the relatedness of ESBL-E isolated from both of human and companion animal
infections isolated over a similar time-period and in the same geographic locations by genome
sequence analysis. We have identified 60 clinical ESBL-E isolated between 2018 and 2021 from
humans and companion animals in southwestern Virginia and have partially characterized those
isolates by identifying ESBL genes. We propose to perform short-read whole genome sequencing
(WGS) on those isolates at Virginia Tech Animal Laboratory Services in order to improve our
laboratory’s capacity to perform and interpret WGS. Sequencing data will be evaluated for
resistance gene and multilocus sequence (MLST) analysis. Isolates of the same MSLT type will
undergo single-nucleotide polymorphism analysis to determine the relatedness of the organisms.
Monitoring of regionally-specific population dynamics of drug-resistant pathogens allows for
implementation of locally-relevant mitigation strategies that improve animal and human health,
thereby directly supporting the Vet-LIRN mission to safeguard human and animal health and to
increase our laboratory’s capacity to respond to Vet-LIRN investigations and enhance the safety
of human and animal foods.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10610265
- **Project number:** 1U18FD007717-01
- **Recipient organization:** VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** KEVIN K LAHMERS
- **Activity code:** U18 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** FDA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $38,309
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10610265

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10610265, One Health Framework for Investigating Antimicrobial Resistant Enterobacterales Population Dynamics in Southwestern Virginia by Whole Genome Sequencing (1U18FD007717-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10610265. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*