ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIA IN NEW YORK CITY FOOD, WATER AND SOIL

We are unconscious to the microorganisms that surround us and affect us in our daily lives. While most microbes are beneficial, some can be harmful such as bacterial pathogens that can cause infectious diseases. Most bacterial infections are effectively treated with antibiotics; however, the recent rise in antibiotic resistant microbes can fail these treatments. Antibiotic resistance is a serious concern in the fields of medicine. The resistance to antibiotics occurs when bacteria mutate, enabling them to reduce or negate effectiveness of antimicrobial drugs that are designed to kill them to cure or prevent infections. Due to the increase in antibiotic resistance, treating or preventing infectious diseases has become a losing battle for medical practitioners. Antibiotic resistance has been attributed to the abuse and overuse of antibiotics, as well as slow new drug discovery by the pharmaceutical industry due to strict regulatory requirements. Misuse of antibiotics drugs in animal food, crops and plants lead to increased concentration of antibiotics in our water, food and soil. As bacteria transform, they gain new genetic elements contributing to antibiotic resistance. Soil, food and water, being large reservoirs of environmental microbes, are more prone to exposure of antibiotics. Therefore, we decided to identify various bacteria that could be found in New York City’s soil, food and water, and to determine if they are resistant to commonly used antibiotics. We will identify microbial isolates by DNA sequencing and experiment their vulnerability to countless antibiotics.