bacteria – Swine in Minnesota

Best of Leman 2024: Matt Sturos – Antimicrobial susceptibility trends for common porcine bacterial pathogens

This is our most popular series on the blog. Once a month, we are sharing with you a presentation given at the Allen D. Leman swine conference, on topics that the swine group found interesting, innovative or that lead to great discussions.

You can find all of the presentations selected from previous conferences on the blog here.

This presentation was given by Matt Sturos of the University of Minnesota during the 2024 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, recorded September 23, 2024.

What does antimicrobial-resistant bacteria really mean?

Antimicrobial resistance is an expression that everyone in swine production has heard at least once but what does it really mean? How are you as a producer or veterinarian affected?

Villalta NHF antimicrobial resistance 2017.gif

In this column for the National Hog Farmer, Dr. Carles Vilalta explains that beyond the definition of a bacterium that is not affected by an antimicrobial, there are two different approaches to think about resistance:

One is determined by the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration or MIC, which records the minimum medicine concentration required to stop the growth of the bacteria.
The other focuses on the presence of genes enabling the bacterium to counteract the effect of the antimicrobial.

These genes are usually present in a sub-population of bacteria called mutants. The video below created by Harvard Medical School shows how these mutants can develop, adapt, and survive the highest antimicrobial concentrations. (video length < 2min)