About This Project

The ability of infection-causing bacteria to develop resistance to the antibiotics used to treat them (called Anti-Microbial Resistance or AMR) is a worldwide threat to human and animal health. Harbor seals are sentinels of ocean health, and we will study AMR in very young harbor seals in a wildlife hospital. Using genetic sequencing, we will identify genes that code for resistance, and evaluate how the resistance genes in individual seals change during their treatment.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat to the health of humans, animals, and our shared environments. Marine mammals are sentinels of ocean health, sharing habitat and food sources with humans. AMR bacteria have already been found in harbor seals from the west coast of the US. Water moving from the land into the ocean, sewage, and fish & shellfish farms are routes of entry for antimicrobials and AMR bacteria into the ocean. Wildlife hospitals, where seals may be treated with antibiotics and then returned to the wild, provide unique opportunities to learn about AMR in the seals before, during, and after treatment. This helps us to better understand AMR in the seals, the environment, and how it may change.

What is the significance of this project?

While antimicrobial resistance is a naturally occurring process, its development has been accelerated by antibiotic use in humans and animals. We are just starting to understand the impact of AMR on the environment and wildlife populations, and how sharing pathogens among species increases the risk for all. Harbor seals are both sentinels and victims of marine AMR, and as potential sources due to the use of antimicrobials to treat them. Characterizing the AMR genes at different stages of harbor seal treatment will improve our understanding of the roles of seals in these contexts. Wildlife hospitals and rehabilitation facilities provide important opportunities to educate people about safeguarding the environments shared by all species.

What are the goals of the project?

This project will identify genes that encode for antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and evaluate how those genes change in young harbor seals during treatment and rehabilitation at a wildlife hospital. We hypothesize that:

1) the presence, prevalence, and diversity of resistance genes will increase in hospitalized harbor seals whether they are treated with antibiotics or not,

2) harbor seals treated with antibiotics will have more diverse resistance genes, and

3) more time in rehabilitation will lead to more diverse resistance genes.

Sampling hospitalized seals and using genetic sequencing will expand our understanding of how harbor seals from the Pacific Northwest are impacted by, and may impact, AMR in the ocean.