Seasonal and Technological Shifts of the WHO Priority Multi-Resistant Pathogens in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant and Its Receiving Surface Water: A Case Study.

Łukasz Jałowiecki,Grażyna Płaza,Jakub Hubeny,Monika Harnisz

doi:10.3390/ijerph19010336

Abstract

The present study was focused on the identification of multi-resistant bacteria from the WHO priority pathogens list in the samples taken from different stages of the full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant and receiving water. Additionally, the seasonal variations of the selected multi-resistant pathogens were analyzed in the samples. In order to the aim of the study, the metagenomic DNA from the collected samples was isolated and sequenced. The samples were collected in three campaigns (spring, summer, autumn). Metagenomic DNA was isolated by the commercial kits, according to the manufacturer’s instruction. Illumina sequencing system was employed, and the R program was used to metagenomic analysis. It was found that the wastewater samples and receiving water contained the multi-resistant bacteria from the WHO priority pathogens list. The seasonal and technological variations affected the distribution of the pathogens in the wastewater. No effect of the effluent on the pathogens in the receiving water was observed. The results indicated that antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens” from the WHO list are there in the waste- and receiving water. Technological process and seasons effected their distribution in the environment. Metagenomic analysis can be used as sufficient tool in microbiological and human health risk assessment.

Highlights

Published: 29 December 2021Hundreds of antibiotics have been discovered or developed over 70 years, starting their huge application in medicine, veterinary, and agriculture [1,2]
Bacteria from the WHO priority pathogens list constituted from 2.15% of relative abundance of total identified bacteria in spring to
The study facilitated the evaluation of similarities and differences in composition of the pathogens from the WHO list, during the wastewater treatment process and seasons, and their distribution in effluent receiving water

Summary

Introduction

Published: 29 December 2021Hundreds of antibiotics have been discovered or developed over 70 years, starting their huge application in medicine, veterinary, and agriculture [1,2]. Due to unmonitored and overuse of antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognized by WHO as a major threat to global health [3,4]. The main reasons of AMR increase are the growth of various microbial infections, as well as the overuse and over-prescription of antimicrobials [5]. Human activities are mainly responsible for high levels and prevalence of antimicrobial resistance, which is considered a modern phenomenon [6,7]. Effluents from urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are suspected to be the main source of antibiotics resistance [9]. Wastewater plants were considered “hot spots” for antibiotic resistance and for bacterial pathogens [10–14]. WWTPs are places where human activities and the environment are linked, and the horizontal transfer of resistance determinants among environmental microorganisms and clinically relevant pathogens is facilitated

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