Abstract
Antibiotic resistance represents a global health problem, requiring better understanding of the ecology of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), their selection and their spread in the environment. Antibiotics are constantly released to the environment through wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. We investigated, therefore, the effect of these discharges on the prevalence of ARGs and bacterial community composition in biofilm and sediment samples of a receiving river. We used culture-independent approaches such as quantitative PCR to determine the prevalence of eleven ARGs and 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing to examine the composition of bacterial communities. Concentration of antibiotics in WWTP influent and effluent were also determined. ARGs such as qnrS, bla TEM, bla CTX-M, bla SHV, erm(B), sul(I), sul(II), tet(O) and tet(W) were detected in all biofilm and sediment samples analyzed. Moreover, we observed a significant increase in the relative abundance of ARGs in biofilm samples collected downstream of the WWTP discharge. We also found significant differences with respect to community structure and composition between upstream and downstream samples. Therefore, our results indicate that WWTP discharges may contribute to the spread of ARGs into the environment and may also impact on the bacterial communities of the receiving river.
Highlights
Antibiotic resistance represents a significant global health problem due to the use and misuse of antibiotics, which favors the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria
In this study we investigated the prevalence of eleven antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and the bacterial community composition in biofilm and sediment samples from a river influenced by a WWTP
It has been some years since Iwane and colleagues [23] showed that the increase of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the Tama River was associated with WWTP effluent discharges
Summary
Antibiotic resistance represents a significant global health problem due to the use and misuse of antibiotics, which favors the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. Since the first warning of antibiotic resistance [1], this phenomenon has increased dramatically and as a result, 70% of all hospitalacquired infections in the United States are resistant to at least one family of antibiotics [2] The treatment of these infections leads to higher healthcare costs because these therapies require longer hospital stays and more expensive drugs. To confront this increasing problem, it is necessary to understand the ecology of antibiotic resistance, including their origins, evolution, selection and dissemination [3]. It has been shown that antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have environmental origins but the introduction and accumulation of antimicrobials in the environment facilitates their spread [7]. Identifying sources of resistance genes, their environmental distribution and how anthropogenic inputs affect their spread will aid in establishing strategies to combat antibiotic resistance
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