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Antibiotic-resistant E. coli in surface water and groundwater in dairy operations in Northern California

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Abstract

Generic Escherichia coli was isolated from surface water and groundwater samples from two dairies in Northern California and tested for susceptibility to antibiotics. Surface samples were collected from flush water, lagoon water, and manure solids, and groundwater samples were collected from monitoring wells. Although E. coli was ubiquitous in surface samples with concentrations ranging from several hundred thousand to over a million colony-forming units per 100 mL of surface water or per gram of surface solids, groundwater under the influence of these high surface microbial loadings had substantially fewer bacteria (3- to 7-log10 reduction). Among 80 isolates of E. coli tested, 34 (42.5 %) were resistant to one or more antibiotics and 22 (27.5 %) were multi-antibiotic resistant (resistant to ≥3 antibiotics), with resistance to tetracycline, cefoxitin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and ampicillin being the most common. E. coli isolates from the calf hutch area exhibited the highest levels of multi-antibiotic resistance, much higher than isolates in surface soil solids from heifer and cow pens, flush alleys, manure storage lagoons, and irrigated fields. Among E. coli isolates from four groundwater samples, only one sample exhibited resistance to ceftriaxone, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline, indicating the potential of groundwater contamination with antibiotic-resistant bacteria from dairy operations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Kathy Glenn, Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, University of California, Davis, for the technical assistance with the MIC method. The authors thank Drs. Bruce Hoar and Christine Kreuder Johnson, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, for the consultations on regulations of antibiotics in dairies. We gratefully acknowledge funding for this work by the California State Water Resources Control Board under agreement no. 04-184-555-3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Xunde Li, Chengling Xiao, Brenda McCowan, Yingjia Liu & Edward R. Atwill

  2. Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Naoko Watanabe & Thomas Harter

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  1. Xunde Li
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  2. Naoko Watanabe
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  3. Chengling Xiao
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  7. Edward R. Atwill
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Correspondence to Xunde Li.

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Li, X., Watanabe, N., Xiao, C. et al. Antibiotic-resistant E. coli in surface water and groundwater in dairy operations in Northern California. Environ Monit Assess 186, 1253–1260 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-013-3454-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-013-3454-2

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