Racing against Resistance with Dr. Maud de Lagarde: Animal Health Insights, Ep. 8, Aug. 7, 2021

We're all racing neck and neck against antimicrobial resistance - trying to preserve antibiotics for use in the most critical situations. This equine specialist pinpoints actions horse owners and veterinarians can take to minimize spread of resistant pathogens in horse populations and facilities.

With fewer anti-microbials in our equine veterinary toolkit, it is essential that we learn all we can about how antimicrobial resistant pathogens travel between horses and their handlers. Without being able to identify and track antibiotic resistant bacteria, we are left in the dark when we try to adjust our management of our animals to minimize disease and to save these valuable medications for situations where they are absolutely necessary.

Dr. Maud de Lagarde is a researcher and diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine who studies the movement of antimicrobial resistant genes in bacterial populations that affect horses in both Quebec and France. She is specifically interested in their route of dissemination to develop strategies to prevent antimicrobial resistance, and her work highlights some interesting intervention points for horse owners and veterinarians alike.

Links of Interest: 

• Prevalence, risk factors, and characterization of multidrug resistant and extended spectrum β-lactamase/AmpC β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli in healthy horses in France in 2015  (de Lagarde M, Larrieu C, Praud K, Schouler C, Doublet B, Sallé G, Fairbrother JM, Arsenault J. Prevalence, risk factors, and characterization of multidrug resistant and extended spectrum β-lactamase/AmpC β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli in healthy horses in France in 2015. J Vet Intern Med. 2019 Mar;33(2):902-911. doi: 10.1111/jvim.15415. Epub 2019 Jan 15. PMID: 30648296; PMCID: PMC6430864.)
• Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Characterization of Multidrug Resistant and ESBL/AmpC Producing Escherichia coli in Healthy Horses in Quebec, Canada, in 2015–2016 (de Lagarde M, Fairbrother JM, Arsenault J. Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Characterization of Multidrug Resistant and ESBL/AmpC Producing Escherichia coli in Healthy Horses in Quebec, Canada, in 2015-2016. Animals (Basel). 2020;10(3):523. Published 2020 Mar 20. doi:10.3390/ani10030523)
• Spread of multidrug-resistant IncHI1 plasmids carrying ESBL gene bla CTX-M-1 and metabolism operon of prebiotic oligosaccharides in commensal Escherichia coli from healthy horses, France (Maud de Lagarde, Caroline Larrieu, Karine Praud, Nathalie Lallier, Angélina Trotereau, Guillaume Sallé, John M. Fairbrother, Catherine Schouler, Benoît Doublet, Spread of multidrug-resistant IncHI1 plasmids carrying ESBL gene blaCTX-M-1 and metabolism operon of prebiotic oligosaccharides in commensal Escherichia coli from healthy horses, France, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, Volume 55, Issue 6, 2020, 105936, ISSN 0924-8579)