Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the gut flora (Enterobacteriaceae) of Wild and Domesticated Horses

A horse’s gastrointestinal tract houses a large and diverse microbial community. Antibiotics used for prophylaxis and/or treatment of bacterial infections can lead to the evolution of antibiotic resistance in the horse’s gut flora. For this study, fecal samples of wild horses from the Outer Banks, Carova Beach, N.C.were analyzed to determine the prevalence of antibiotic resistance against twelve common antibiotics used in the veterinary treatment of domesticated livestock. We expect the flora of wild horses to be more susceptible to these antibiotics than domesticated horses due to a lower frequency of medical intervention as compared to domesticated horses.