Dissemination and persistence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) along the wastewater-river continuum.

Autor: Read DS; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK. Electronic address: daniel.read@ceh.ac.uk., Gweon HS; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK; School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK., Bowes MJ; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK., Anjum MF; Department of Bacteriology, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK., Crook DW; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK., Chau KK; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK., Shaw LP; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Biology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK., Hubbard A; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Biosciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UK., AbuOun M; Department of Bacteriology, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK., Tipper HJ; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK., Hoosdally SJ; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK., Bailey MJ; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK., Walker AS; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK., Stoesser N; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Water research [Water Res] 2024 Oct 15; Vol. 264, pp. 122204. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 03.
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122204
Abstrakt: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health hazard. Although clinical and agricultural environments are well-established contributors to the evolution and dissemination of AMR, research on wastewater treatment works (WwTWs) has highlighted their potential role as disseminators of AMR in freshwater environments. Using metagenomic sequencing and analysis, we investigated the changes in resistomes and associated mobile genetic elements within untreated wastewater influents and treated effluents of five WwTWs, and sediments collected from corresponding river environments in Oxfordshire, UK, across three seasonal periods within a year. Our analysis demonstrated a high diversity and abundance of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in untreated wastewater influents, reflecting the varied anthropogenic and environmental origins of wastewater. WwTWs effectively reduced AMR in the final effluent, with an average 87 % reduction in normalised ARG abundance and an average 63 % reduction in richness. However, wastewater effluents significantly impacted the antimicrobial resistome of the receiving rivers, with an average 543 % increase in ARG abundance and a 164 % increase in richness from upstream sediments to downstream sediments. The normalised abundance of the human gut-associated bacteriophage crAssphage was highly associated with both ARG abundance and richness. We observed seasonal variation in the resistome of raw influent which was not found in the effluent-receiving sediments. We illustrate the potential of WwTWs as focal points for disseminating ARGs and resistance-selecting chemicals, contributing to the elevation of environmental AMR. Our study emphasises the need for a comprehensive understanding of the anthropogenic impacts on AMR evolution and dissemination in wastewater and river environments, informing efforts to mitigate this growing public health crisis.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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