Investigating the driving forces and spread of antibiotic resistance: the case of marine aquaculture in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa

Background and research aims

One of the major problems today is the increasing spread of resistance in bacteria. This has increased as more antibiotics are used and spread in the environment. One of the major sources of antibiotics in the environment is modern aquaculture, where there is widespread use of prophylactic antibiotics, especially in developing countries. This has resulted in a tremendous increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria in aquatic environments, including species that are pathogens in fish and shellfish, and in increased transmission of resistance to pathogenic bacteria associated with humans.

In this multidisciplinary project, we want to contribute with knowledge to reduce the spread of antibiotics in the marine environment. Our overall goal is to be able to develop a strategy for established aquaculture environments in Asia and for growing aquaculture environments in East Africa. The strategy will be based on empirical results from both social science and biological-oceanographic studies conducted primarily in India.