ENHANCING THE WGS BASED SURVEILLANCE OF SALMONELLA, LISTERIA, STEC AND OTHER FOODBORNE RELATED BACTERIAL PATHOGENS ISOLATED FROM FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT AT THE NATIONAL AND GLOBAL LEVEL

Salmonella, Listeria, STEC and other foodborne related bacterial pathogens isolatedfrom retail meat, fresh produce and their environment have been implicated as theleading causes of bacterial foodborne illness in the US and around the world. It isimportant that we monitor the prevalence and trends of important foodborne bacterialstrains in food products that can eventually pass to the consumers along the farm-to-fork chain resulting in significant public health impact. An important aim should be toexpand the current surveillance network and monitor these important pathogens at theglobal scale to prevent future outbreaks. We propose to coordinate the GenomeTrakrWGS based surveillance program in partnership with the Pasteur Institute in Senegal toconduct surveillance of antimicrobial resistant foodborne bacterial pathogens using the`One Health” approach in humans, food products and the environment. Or extensiveglobal network globally has allowed us to expand the GenomeTrakr programinternationally. We strongly believe that the data generated through the proposed workwill assist in monitoring Salmonella, Listeria, STEC and other foodborne relatedbacterial pathogens globally, where current surveillance systems are not robust enoughto track them. The WGS data and metadata will significantly improve the power toresolve outbreaks by helping to quickly link clinical and retail product samples and assistin outbreak investigations. The PD (Dr. Thakur) laboratory, in partnership with the NCDepartment of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDACS), is a GenomeTrakrcollaborating laboratory. Our proposal will significantly assist us in tracking emergenceof potential new Salmonella, Listeria and STEC and other foodborne related bacterialstrains and allow the public health agencies to take appropriate steps to safeguardhuman and animal health at the global level.The specific objectives of our proposal are:1) Establish a robust surveillance system based on whole genome sequence (WGS)profile of 400 Salmonella, Listeria, STEC and other foodborne related bacterialpathogens isolated from food and environmental sources in the US and globally.2) Compare the WGS profiles of Salmonella, Listeria, STEC and other foodbornerelated bacterial pathogens at the global scale to assist in outbreak investigations andtrack emerging strains of public health importance.