Science
Guiding good antibiotic stewardship by understanding underlying molecular mechanisms.
Understanding the Importance of Antibiotic Resistances
Antibiotic resistance is an increasing global problem, both for public and animal health and welfare. The development and spread of antibiotic resistance is influenced by human and animal antibiotic use, as well as intrinsic resistance exhibited by some pathogenic microorganisms.
The MiDOG® All-in-One Microbial Test can detect >46 acquired antibiotic resistance genes and utilizes a database to report intrinsic resistance of all microorganisms identified. By reporting both acquired and intrinsic antibiotic resistance, the MiDOG® All-in-One Microbial Test helps guide veterinarians to choose the most appropriate antibiotic treatment.
Image: Human deaths attributed to antibiotic resistance each year by 2050. Source: Sugden, et al. 2016 Nature Microbiology
Intrinsic resistance refers to a natural resistance that, most or all, members of a species have to a specific antibiotic. Since this type of resistance is inherent to a particular species, those antibiotics are rendered useless for treatment. For example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is intrinsically resistant to a wide range of antibiotic drugs due to the activities of multi-drug efflux pumps and chromosomally encoded resistance genes. The MiDOG® All-in-One Microbial Test reports information on such intrinsic resistances based on up-to-date microbiological and clinical evidence.
A common way microorganisms acquire antibiotic resistance is through horizontal gene transfer, i.e. they are receiving a resistant gene from a different microorganism. In addition to intrinsic resistance, the MiDOG® All-in-One Test detects the most commonly acquired antibiotic resistance genes using a specially designed gene panel. This carefully curated panel reflects the most frequently encountered antibiotic resistance genes, especially those found in veterinary settings.
