• Project number: F 2547
• Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
• Status: Ongoing Project
• Planned end: 2025-04-30

Description:

The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, BAuA) is contributing to a project funded by the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) with the aim of using different bacteriophage cocktails to reduce MRSA in pig barns. To this end, a “One Health” approach is being taken to investigate the changes brought about by this measure in relation to animals, human beings, employees in particular, and the environment, and to model the resulting consequences.

In the subproject carried out at BAuA, airborne bioagents such as bacteria, fungi, endotoxins, and exotoxins will be analysed in pig barns before, during, and after the application of phage cocktails to reduce MRSA, allowing it to be determined how exposures are changed by this intervention measure. Fungi and endotoxins will be recorded using standardised methods. Furthermore, well-established meta-omics methods will be used for the detection of bacteria and exotoxins, and will be optimised for the conditions found in the barns. A quantitative PCR assay will be conducted to determine the phage cocktail. Our analyses will make it possible to understand and evaluate the influence of bacteriophage use on the composition of airborne biochemicals in pig barns, and thus on the exposures experienced by workers and animals, and the emissions from the pig barns.