engleski

Antibiotic production waste and the threat of antibiotic resistance

High, often uncontrolled, antibiotic releases from production facilities have been identified as a risk factor for the development of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. Such mg/L releases, which are clearly selective for antibiotic resistance, have primarily been reported in Asian countries, with no or limited data from the rest of the world. Identifying antibiotic-polluted sites and understanding the dynamics of antibiotic resistance gene spread at these sites is thus critical for appropriate risk assessment and future risk mitigation efforts. In my lecture, I will present data from our own studies, performed in collaboration with several other labs, involving two study areas (river and creek) impacted by wastewater from Croatian pharmaceutical industries involved in antibiotic synthesis and formulation. We used liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry to investigate the extent of antibiotic pollution, as well as functional metagenomics, quantitative PCR, and exogenous plasmid isolations to investigate the resistome of exposed microbial communities. We show that high levels of antibiotics in the sediment of investigated waters are associated with high abundances of a wide range of antibiotic resistance genes. Integrons and plasmids involved in gene mobilization are also abundant in these environments. Capture experiments in sediment from the most polluted river locations reveal a variety of resistance plasmids that are transferrable to E. coli. Overall, our findings demonstrated that aquatic environments exposed to industrial discharges serve as important reservoirs for maintenance and propagation of antibiotic resistance genes, with a clear risk of transmission to human pathogens. Actions to reduce risks at such locations are thus urgently required.

antibiotic resistance ; antibiotic manufacturing ; resistance genes

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