Chlorine and UV combination sequence: Effects on antibiotic resistance control and health risks of ARGs

Jingyi Zhang; Weiguang Li; Xinming Guo; Xinran Zhang; Xuhui Wang; Longyi Lv

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123780

Chlorine and UV combination sequence: Effects on antibiotic resistance control and health risks of ARGs

J Environ Manage. 2024 Dec 20:373:123780. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123780. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jingyi Zhang¹, Weiguang Li², Xinming Guo¹, Xinran Zhang³, Xuhui Wang¹, Longyi Lv⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China; School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China; School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China. Electronic address: hit_lwg@126.com.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China.
⁴ Tianjin Key Laboratory of Clean Energy and Pollution Control, School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300401, China. Electronic address: lvlongyi@hebut.edu.cn.

PMID: 39708685
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123780

Abstract

The effective control of antibiotic resistance in aquatic environments is urgent. The combined chlorine and UV processes (Cl₂-UV, UV/Cl₂, and UV-Cl₂) are considered potential control processes for controlling antibiotic resistance. This study compared the effectiveness of these three processes in real water bodies and the potential health risks associated with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) after treatments. The removal of various antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and ARGs by the combined processes was analysed. The UV/Cl₂ process was less effective than the others in inactivating β-lactam-resistant bacteria (BRB) and sulfamethoxazole-resistant bacteria (SRB), which are more challenging to remove, though its performance might improve with increased UV fluence. Nevertheless, the UV/Cl₂ process showed an advantage in removing ARGs. The absolute abundance of aminoglycoside resistance genes (AmRGs), sulfonamide resistance genes (SRGs), macrolide resistance genes (MRGs), and multidrug efflux-associated ARGs detected after the UV/Cl₂ process was relatively low, and this process outperformed the others in removing a greater number of ARGs. Additionally, certain ARGs and bacterial genera were found to be enriched after the combined processes, with lower and more similar abundance levels of ARGs and genera observed after UV/Cl₂ and UV-Cl₂ processes compared to the Cl₂-UV process. Health risk assessments indicated that the Cl₂-UV process posed the highest risk, followed by UV/Cl₂ and UV-Cl₂ processes. Overall, the UV/Cl₂ process may offer the most practical advantages for controlling antibiotic resistance.

Keywords: ARB; ARG; Chlorine; Health risk; UV.