1. Antibiotic Resistance Genes and crAssphage in Hospital Wastewater and a canal receiving the treatment effluent.
- Author
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Siri Y, Sresung M, Paisantham P, Mongkolsuk S, Sirikanchana K, Honda R, Precha N, and Makkaew P
- Abstract
Hospital wastewater is a major hotspot for the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic ecosystems. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and their correlation with crAssphage in a hospital wastewater treatment plant (HWWTP) and a receiving canal. Water samples were analyzed for 94 ARGs and crAssphage relative to the 16S rRNA using high-throughput quantitative polymerase chain reaction (HT-qPCR). Subsequently, 7 ARGs and crAssphage were selected and quantified using qPCR. The results showed that the detected genes ranged from 85 to 93 out of 94 genes. The raw wastewater (WW) samples had the highest gene diversity compared to the upstream canal, which had less diversity than downstream samples, as determined by HT-qPCR. The bla
GES was the most abundant in WW samples, while qacEΔ1, merA, IS6100, tnpA, and IS26 showed high prevalence throughout the treatment processes. The concentrations of intI1, sul1, blaTEM, blaNDM, blaVIM, tetQ, mcr-1, crAssphage, and 16S rRNA, measured using qPCR, were the highest in WW and significantly reduced in treated water samples. Although some water quality parameters, such as total suspended solids and dissolved oxygen, did not significantly differ before and after treatment, removal efficiency ranged from 0.60 to 3.23 log reduction values (LRV). The highest LRV was observed for the tetQ, whereas the mcr-1 had the lowest of LRV. Strong positive correlations among the absolute concentrations of ARGs and crAssphage were observed (Spearman's rho = 0.6 - 1.0), and biochemical oxygen demand correlated with blaTEM and blaVIM (Spearman's rho = 0.6 and 0.6, respectively). These results indicate that crAssphage and water quality could reflect the distribution of other ARGs throughout the HWWTP. Further studies are needed to underscore the importance of monitoring ARGs and biomarkers such as crAssphage in HWWTPs and their receiving waters to enhance our understanding of ARG distribution., 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. ☐ The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:, (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)- Published
- 2024
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