Researchers report in the journal Geohealth that local rivers and streams were the source of the Salmonella enterica contamination along coastal North Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018 – not the previously suspected high number of pig farms in the region.
These findings have critical implications for controlling the spread of disease caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens after flooding events, particularly in the coastal regions of developing countries that are being highly impacted by the increase in tropical storms.
The study, led by University of Illinois Urbana-Chamapaign civil and environmental engineering professor Helen Nguyen and graduate student Yuqing Mao, tracks the presence and origin of S. enterica from environmental samples from coastal North Carolina using genetic tracing.
Read more at: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
A NASA image containing visible and infrared data revealing the presence of dissolved organic matter – including potential antibiotic-resistant pathogens – in the waterways along coastal North Carolina after Hurricane Florence. (Photo Credit: NASA)