Throughout Europe, there is an increased occurrence of bacterial infections. With increasing life expectancy, and with a growing population with partially compromised health conditions (elderly with less effective immune systems, immuno-suppressed persons, multiple drug resistances), susceptibility to pathogens in the environment is of real concern. Different theories to explain the increased occurrence of bacterial infections have been put forward, including life style changes, globalization, medical facility management and changed agricultural practices. There continues to be, however, incidence of infectious diseases in medical and animal production facilities that cannot be explained by exposure to other humans or animals, and there is widespread belief within the medical community that some, as yet undescribed, environmental factors are involved. Globalization is naturally increasing the exposure of animals and humans to pathogens, but land use practices are also possibly mobilizing and proliferating pathogenic traits in the environment. Thus, a characterization of how our life style patterns affect the ecology and evolution of pathogenic traits is central to the development of methods for assessing risk and for predicting where and when potential human health problems will arise.

The aim of this prioritized research theme is to establish a research field at the cross-roads of (molecular) microbial ecology, and medical and veterinary microbiology in order to

 Investigate the role of the environment as a reservoir of pathogenic microorganisms, including development of new methods for the cultivation of ”hard-to-culture” bacteria with the aim of identifying and isolating new potential opportunistic pathogens

 Investigate the genetic variation and evolution of pathogenic traits in the environment

 Investigate the function of pathogenic traits in the environment, including interactions between pathogens and micro-, meso-, and macrofauna

 Investigate the spreading of pathogenicity traits between natural microorganisms in the environment including effect studies of anthropogenic changes

As an example of the rsearch that we carry out is a project investigating the occurrence of a suite of virulence factors (genes) in various aquatic and terrestrial  environments. The genes are being characterized to assess their origen and phylogenetic relationship. In addition, the expression of the genes are being examined. For further information please contact Niels Kroer, nk@dmud.dk.

Another research interest include the examination of virulence traits (enterotoxin genes, haemolysin genes, etc.) amongst  Bacillus cereus strains from the environment. Furthermore, we are searching for B.anthracis specific genes in these environmental isolates. We are examining the variation in pathogenicity relative to the occurrence of these virulence genes and its relationship to gene expression. We are also examining strains of Bacillus thuringiensis, a microbial pest control agent that is heavily applied in the environment, for these same genes. Interactions between the microorganisms and animal hosts may ultimately determine the pathogenicity of the enterotoxin gene-carrying strains. For further information, please contact Niels B. Hendriksen, nbh@dmu.dk.

Another activity is related to the occurrence and transport of bacteria in air. Analyses are based on a combination of molecular (DNA-based) and traditional (growth-based) microbiological techniques, and samples are checked for the presence of genes encoding for human pathogenic traits. For further information, please contact Ulrich B. Gosewinkel, uka@dmu.dk.

Short abstracts of all ongoing projects can be seen here.