Summary: “Assessment of Selected Antibiotic Resistances in Ungrazed Native Nebraska Prairie Soils” with Dr. Lisa Durso. Antibiotic resistance has revealed itself as one of the great public health threats of our lifetimes. It currently causes 23,000 deaths per year and $55 billion of health costs in the U.S. Those numbers are predicted to skyrocket in coming years without major change. However, there’s a caveat that makes researching it harder. Antibiotic resistance occurs naturally in soil, even without antibiotics present – but we’re not sure why. That’s where Dr. Lisa Durso comes in. She works with the USDA-ARS to look at Nebraskan soils and examine how much antibiotic resistance really occurs in untouched soil so we can establish a baseline for future research. She works with native prairie soils all over Nebraska to promote the broader goal of learning how drug-resistant genes survive in environments, and how they can move from field to people. Tune in to learn: • Unexpected grocery store products that were created by the USDA-ARS • Top health threats listed by the CDC • How bacteria share resistance genes like a banana bread recipe • How scientists count bacteria If you would like more information about this topic, today’s paper is available here: https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jeq/articles/45/2/454 It will be freely available from 22 June to 6 July, 2018. If you would like to find transcripts for this episode or sign up for our newsletter, please visit our website: https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/podcast Contact us at podcast@sciencesocieties.org or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don’t forget to subscribe. If you would like to reach out to Lisa, you can find her here: Lisa.Durso@ARS.USDA.GOV Resources CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/protecting_yourself_family.html More information on antibiotic resistance: https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/index.html
