WRRC 2022 Fall Seminar

October 14, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Kuykendall Room 201 and Zoom Meeting

Acquisition of Antibiotic Resistance Genes on Human Skin After Swimming in the Ocean

by Dr. Sunny Jiang

Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Irvine

The skin is a complex organ responsible for protecting the body from physical, chemical and biological insults. Therefore, the skin microbiome plays an important role in protecting the host from skin infections. This presentation reports changes in the skin microbiome and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), antibiotic biosynthesis genes (ABSGs) and virulence factor genes (VFGs) on the human skin before and after swimming in the ocean. Skin microbiome samples were collected from human participants’ calves before and after they swam in the ocean, and at 6 h and 24 h post-swim. The results showed that not only is the skin microbiome composition altered before and after swimming, but the abundance and diversity of ARGs, ABSGs and VFGs on the skin increased post-swim. The elevated number of ARGs persisted for at least 6 h post-swim with over a 300% increase compared to the samples collected prior to swimming in the ocean. The outcome of the study supports the epidemiological observations of the increased risk of skin infections after swimming in the ocean.

Register for meeting:

https://hawaii.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0uc-yhrzMtEtWIor9QDA4mlgZraxenYZnW


Event Sponsor
WRRC, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Keri Kodama, 956-3174, kodamak8@hawaii.edu

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