According to the WHO, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to public health. DTU researchers have created a new tool in the fight against resistant bacteria that, based on 214,000 microbiome samples, can create an overview of the problem across countries, people and environments.
In the future, even a small infection can become life-threatening for people if disease-causing bacteria become resistant to traditional treatment with antibiotics.
Based on 214,000 microbiome samples, DTU researchers have created a freely accessible platform that shows where in the world different types of resistant bacteria are found and in what quantities.
To gain an understanding of how antibiotic resistance is spreading across the world, it is important to know where, which and how many resistance genes are found in all the environments that surround us. The genes that provide resistance can spread between animals, humans, and the environment.
Data can be used for tailoring guidelines
Today, there is a large amount of data available in various online repositories and a number of limited data sets on the occurrence of resistant bacteria in, for example, sewage, soil, animals or humans. But the data is not actively being used, because it until now has been difficult to get access to, handle, and, especially, utilize these large datasets due to the computing power needed.
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