Antibiotic-resistant genes and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the effluent of urban residential areas, hospitals, and a municipal wastewater treatment plant system

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2015 Mar;22(6):4587-96. doi: 10.1007/s11356-014-3665-2. Epub 2014 Oct 18.

Abstract

In this study, we determined the abundance of 8 antibiotics (3 tetracyclines, 4 sulfonamides, and 1 trimethoprim), 12 antibiotic-resistant genes (10 tet, 2 sul), 4 antibiotic-resistant bacteria (tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, and combined resistance), and class 1 integron integrase gene (intI1) in the effluent of residential areas, hospitals, and municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) systems. The concentrations of total/individual targets (antibiotics, genes, and bacteria) varied remarkably among different samples, but the hospital samples generally had a lower abundance than the residential area samples. The WWTP demonstrated removal efficiencies of 50.8% tetracyclines, 66.8% sulfonamides, 0.5 logs to 2.5 logs tet genes, and less than 1 log of sul and intI1 genes, as well as 0.5 log to 1 log removal for target bacteria. Except for the total tetracycline concentration and the proportion of tetracycline-resistant bacteria (R (2) = 0.330, P < 0.05), there was no significant correlation between antibiotics and the corresponding resistant bacteria (P > 0.05). In contrast, various relationships were identified between antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (P < 0.05). Tet (A) and tet (B) displayed noticeable relationships with both tetracycline and combined antibiotic-resistant bacteria (P < 0.01).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / analysis*
  • Bacteria / genetics*
  • China
  • Cities
  • DNA Primers / genetics
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics*
  • Genes, Bacterial*
  • Integrases / genetics
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sulfamethoxazole / analysis
  • Sulfonamides / analysis
  • Tetracyclines / analysis
  • Trimethoprim / analysis
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods*
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid / statistics & numerical data
  • Wastewater / chemistry
  • Wastewater / microbiology*
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*
  • Water Purification*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • DNA Primers
  • Sulfonamides
  • Tetracyclines
  • Waste Water
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical
  • Trimethoprim
  • Integrases
  • integron integrase IntI1
  • Sulfamethoxazole