MOMIR-PPC

MoMIR-PPC: Monitoring the gut microbiota and immune response to predict, prevent and control zoonoses in humans and livestock in order to minimize the use of antimicrobials.

MoMIR-PPC aims to develop new approaches to predict, identify and prevent the appearance of animal and human Super-shedders based on immune response and gut microbiota composition.

Many early studies on infectious disease epidemiology assumed that susceptible hosts within a population had equal  chances  of  becoming  infected.  Consequently, the  majority  of  control  measures  and  intervention strategies are based on this paradigm as well as the mathematical models of pathogen transmission. However, recent studies have uncovered the importance of host heterogeneity in infection and it has been shown that a minority  of  the  infected  individuals  are  responsible  for  the  majority  of  the  infections.  In  the  case  of pathogens transmitted via the faecal-oral route, these individuals are those that shed the highest numbers of bacteria and are known as Super-spreaders or Super-shedders. The most important zoonoses (salmonellosis, colibacillosis and campylobacteriosis) are no exception to this general rule (Marshall & French 2011 MAF; Bearson et al. Infect Genet Evol, 2013). To improve the microbial safety of food and to develop new preventive measures for controlling zoonosis, this heterogeneity of infection must be taken into account and the interventions to the super-shedders must be targeted.

MoMIR-PPC’s main objective is to improve EU industry sustainability and safe trade by providing information and tools leading to on-farm control of the bacteria. To maximise the feasibility of the project, the focus is put on Salmonella infection, which is a priority for Europe (The EFSA Journal, 2013 11(4)) . Salmonellosis will serve as a model for other zoonotic bacteria as Campylobacter and E. coli. The biomarkers, diagnostic tools and the control measures obtained in this project should be easily translated to these bacteria in a future project.

The main achievements will be the development of:

1. Predictive markers based on that will sign the risk to become a super-shedder of Salmonella.
2. Immune and microbiota biomarkers of excretion that will be useful to detect animal super- shedders and/ or human prolonged carriers.
3. Preventive measures and /or control measures of this zoonotic problem by the characterisation of prebiotics, probiotics and nutraceutical products, which could be use in animals but also in human
4. A pool of biosecurity measures at the farm levels, with a cost effectiveness, thanks to the mathematical models at  between-  and  within-host  scal  These  mathematical  models  will  provide  new  tools  to  risk managers for prevention and control of Salmonella infections but which should be easily adapted to other zoonotic pathogens.

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Rebollada-Merino, A., Ugarte-Ruiz, M., Hernández, M., Miguela-Villoldo, P., Abad, D., Rodríguez-Lázaro, D., de Juan, L., Domínguez, L., Rodríguez-Bertos, A. (2020). Reduction of Salmonella Typhimurium cecal colonisation and improvement of intestinal health in broilers supplemented with fermented defatted ‘alperujo’, an olive oil by-product. Animals. 10(10), 1931. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101931

Rebollada-Merino, A., Ugarte-Ruiz, M., Hernández, M., Miguela-Villoldo, P., Abad, D., Cuesta-Álvaro, P., Rodríguez-Lázaro, D., de Juan, L., Domínguez, L., Rodríguez-Bertos, A. (2020). Dietary supplementation with fermented defatted “alperujo” induces modifications of the intestinal mucosa and cecal microbiota of broiler chickens. Poultry Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2020.07.015

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Florez-Cuadrado D., Moreno MA., Ugarte-Ruiz M. and Dominguez L Antimicrobial Resistance in the Food Chain in the European Union. Advances in Food and Nutrition Research. Elsevier, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/bs.afnr.2018.04.004

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