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About the Authors:
Kristi S. Shaw
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, Maryland, United States of America
Rachel E. Rosenberg Goldstein
Affiliation: Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland, School of Public Health, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
Xin He
Affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland, School of Public Health, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
John M. Jacobs
Affiliation: Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Oxford, Maryland, United States of America
Byron C. Crump
Affiliations Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, Maryland, United States of America, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America
Amy R. Sapkota
Affiliation: Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland, School of Public Health, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
Introduction
Bacterial antimicrobial resistance is a critical public health issue of increasing importance for those who recreate and work in coastal regions. Pathogenic bacteria and antimicrobial resistance genes are often released with wastewater discharges into aquatic environments [1]. Naturally occurring bacteria produce antibiotics in the environment for signaling and regulatory purposes in microbial communities [2]. Bacteria protect themselves from the toxicity of these antibiotics by acquiring and expressing antibiotic resistance genes [3]. As a result, naturally-occurring aquatic bacteria are capable of serving as reservoirs of resistance genes and those genes, coupled with the introduction and accumulation of antimicrobial agents, detergents, disinfectants, and residues from industrial processes, may play an important role in the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance in aquatic environments [1].
Vibrio bacteria in the estuarine-marine environment are of particular concern for human health and may be increasing in pathogenicity and abundance [4]. Cases of vibriosis are rising in the United States, with Vibrio vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus being two of the three most commonly reported sources of Vibrio infection [5]. V. parahaemolyticus is implicated as the primary source of escalation in vibriosis incidence [5] and highly pathogenic serotypes of this species are emerging on a global scale, including the Atlantic coasts of the United States and Spain [6]. It is estimated that...