Impact of COVID-19 on Antimicrobial Use and Antimicrobial Resistance

Led by Randall Singer, DVM, PhD, professor of epidemiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, and co-leads Irene Bueno, DVM, MPH, PhD, and Bill Arnold, PhD, researchers in this study will conduct environmental sampling of water to quantify antimicrobial concentrations and antimicrobial resistant bacteria that are relevant to human health. They will also obtain antibiotic use data at the major Minnesota hospitals and correlate these data with the environmental sampling results. "Antimicrobials are not entirely metabolized by humans after administration, and wastewater treatment plants cannot completely remove antimicrobials during the treatment process. In addition, antimicrobial resistant bacteria may also survive and even be concentrated by wastewater treatment," said Singer. "Thus, the natural environment can serve as a proxy of antimicrobial usage and antimicrobial resistance changes in the human population."