Drug resistance determinants in Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) and human wastewater in Cape Cod

Antibiotic resistant bacteria pose a serious risk in human and veterinary medicine. In 2001, the World Health Organization identified drug resistance as a major threat to global health. Antimicrobial agents are powerful tools used by clinicians to treat bacterial infections, however, these drugs are losing their potency as microbial communities evolve methods to evade or destroy the antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance determinants are genes that code for proteins involved in the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. These resistance determinants are not specific to one particular organism, but can be shared between bacteria through horizontal gene transfer.