Antibiotic Resistance in the Microbiome OxfoRd (ARMORd) Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Antibiotics Resistance in the Microbiome OxfoRd (ARMORd)Study. A prospective study of the carriage of antibiotic resistance genes and resistant bacteria in the gut microbiome in Oxfordshire.
IRAS ID
166384
Contact name
Derrick Crook
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Clinical Trials and Research Governance Joint Research Office
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
We are seeing a rapid increase in antibiotic resistance in both the bacteria causing infections, but also in the ‘good’ bacteria which live harmlessly on us. We call all the microbes that live on us the ‘human microbiome’. The human gut contains billions of these ‘good’ bacteria, which help our digestion and protect us from infection. When we take antibiotics, these antibiotics may treat an infection, but they can also harm the ‘good’ bacteria, or encourage them to become resistant to antibiotics, and spread this resistance to harmful bacteria. The gut bacteria are also affected by food we eat, the places we have travelled, and contact with hospitals. We want to find out how much all these factors affect the gut bacteria. We also want to understand whether carrying more resistant bacteria increases the risk of getting a resistant infection.
Like humans, bacteria have “DNA”, or genetic material which affects how they grow and behave. We can extract the DNA from the gut bacteria in faeces, and look for DNA which makes them resistant to antibiotics.
We aim recruit 200 participants from Oxfordshire to answer questionnaires about their health and antibiotic use, and collect faecal samples from them. 100 participants will be asked for 1 faecal sample. 100 participants due to take antibiotics will be asked for 4 faecal samples, before antibiotics, at 3 to 7 days, at 14 and 21 days, and at around 6 months.
We will examine how antibiotic use and other factors affect resistance of the bacteria in the gut, and look at NHS databases to look at how the gut bacteria predict risk of future resistant infection.
This can help us identify ways to reduce antibiotic resistance in patients, and reduce their risk of getting a drug resistant infection in the future.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0270
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion