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Previous research has shown that both farm and hospital effluents may contain antibiotic residues and a variety of resistant organisms (NEJM JW Gen Med 2014 Jun 19 and Clin Infect Dis 2014; 58:1658). Residues are released into the environment and contribute to the resistome, which comprises the resistance genes within environmental microbial communities and which, in turn, can serve as a reservoir for the resistant pathogens encountered in clinical situations. Given that considerably more antibiotics are administered to farm animals than to humans, researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, questioned the relative impact of farms and hospitals on the environmental resistome. Using metagenomic and metatranscriptomic methods, they compar…