title: The urgent need for risk assessment on the antibiotic resistance spread via sewage sludge land application.
abstract: Sewage sludge is an ever-increasing by-product of the wastewater treatment process frequently used as a soil fertiliser. To control its quality and prevent any possible hazardous impact of fertilisation, some mandatory limits of heavy metal content have been established by the European Commission (Sewage Sludge Directive). However, since the implementation of the limits, new emerging contaminants have been reported worldwide. Regardless of the wastewater treatment process, sewage sludge contains antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes, which can be released into the environment through its land application. Such a practice may even boost the dissemination and further development of antibiotic resistance phenomenon - already a global problem challenging modern medicine. Due to the growing pharmaceutical pollution in the environment, the time is ripe to assess the risk for the human and environmental health of sewage sludge land application in the context of antibiotic resistance spread. In this review we present the current knowledge in the field and we emphasise the necessity for more studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. Electronic address: kkrysta@us.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Kinga
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bondarczuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Markowicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Zofia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Piotrowska-Seget
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D005308:Fertilizers; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012722:Sewage; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Antibiotic resistance genes; Antibiotic-resistant bacteria; Co-resistance; Environmental resistome; Heavy metals; Soil fertilisation