JOHNSON CITY (Nov. 3, 2020) – Dr. Erik Petersen, assistant professor in East Tennessee State University College of Public Health’s Department of Health Sciences, has received $300,000 to study Salmonella sensing-based antibacterials for use in poultry.
The award is a collaborative bi-national grant with Dr. Erez Mills from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Rehovot, Israel.
“Currently, among the food-borne zoonoses, or diseases that are spread between animals and people, Salmonellosis has become a frequent major public health concern,” Petersen said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates Salmonella bacteria cause about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths in the United States every year. Food is the source for most of these illnesses, which can cause symptoms such as diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps.
“At the global level, the main source of Salmonellosis is consumption of contaminated poultry meat products,” Petersen said. “The current Salmonella control measures implemented in poultry production chains have met limited success due to various reasons. The detection of drug resistance in non-typhoidal Salmonella has also increased the concern in the salmonellosis control.”
The study proposes novel strategies to control Salmonella prevalence and incidence in poultry. The aim is to reduce poultry mortality and morbidity as well as poultry-related outbreaks and foodborne gastroenteritis. The new class of antibacterial compounds proposed to be developed are based on natural environmental signals sensed by bacteria and hence have no issues of toxicity, drug resistance or mutant selection.
Petersen and Mills began collaborating during their shared time at the University of Washington as postdoctoral researchers.
“We hope this award can foster long-term collaboration to carry out further research on Salmonella biology, their survival in the environment and in the host, including poultry and human, and elucidating the mechanisms of their persistence and spread in poultry production,” Petersen said.
To learn more about the ETSU College of Public Health, visit www.etsu.edu/cph.