Fate of antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes during wastewater chlorination: implication for antibiotic resistance control.
This study investigated fates of nine antibiotic-resistant bacteria as well as two series of antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treated by various doses of chlorine (0, 15, 30, 60, 150 and 300 mg Cl2 min/L). The results indicated that chlorination was effective in inactivating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Most bacteria were inactivated completely at the lowest dose (15 mg Cl2 min/L). By comparison, sulfadiazine- and erythromycin-resistant bacteria exhibited tolerance to low chlorine dose (up to 60 mg Cl2 min/L). However, quantitative real-time PCRs revealed that chlorination decreased limited erythromycin or tetracycline resistance genes, with the removal levels of overall erythromycin and tetracycline resistance genes at 0.42 ± 0.12 log and 0.10 ± 0.02 log, respectively. About 40% of erythromycin-resistance genes and 80% of tetracycline resistance genes could not be removed by chlorination. Chlorination was considered not effective in controlling antimicrobial resistance. More concern needs to be paid to the potential risk of antibiotic resistance genes in the wastewater after chlorination.
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Qing-Bin
QB
Yuan
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control (SMARC), Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China.
Mei-Ting
MT
Guo
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Jian
J
Yang
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D054879:Halogenation; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D062065:Wastewater