Gut carriage of antimicrobial resistance genes among young children in urban Maputo, Mozambique: Associations with enteric pathogen carriage and environmental risk factors

Because poor sanitation is hypothesized as a major direct and indirect pathway of exposure to antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs), we sought to determine a) the prevalence of and b) environmental risk factors for gut carriage of key ARGs in a pediatric cohort at high risk of enteric infections due to poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions. We investigated ARGs in stool from young children in crowded, low-income settlements of Maputo, Mozambique, and explored potential associations with concurrent enteric pathogen carriage, diarrhea, and environmental risk factors, including WASH. We collected stool from 120 children