Investigating the impact of UV-C/H2O2 and sunlight/H2O2 on the removal of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance determinants and toxicity present in urban wastewater

This work aimed at exploring the impact of UV-C/H2O2 and sunlight/H2O2 processes, applied at pilot scale, on removing: (i) ciprofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole, (ii) cultivable Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa grown in the presence and absence of sub-minimal inhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole and (iii) the genes 16S rRNA and selected antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) (i.e., sul1, blaCTX-M, qnrS, tetM, etc.) from urban wastewater. The major antibiotic transformation products (TPs) formed, were elucidated and the chronic toxicity of the whole effluent mixture against Vibrio fischeri was evaluated. The capability of the processes, in terms of the elimination of the antibiotics present in urban wastewater, varied among the two light sources used: both antibiotics were fully removed during UV-C/Η2Ο2, whereas only ciprofloxacin was removed during the sunlight/H2O2. The photo-transformation of the antibiotics led to the identification of 21 and 18 TPs of ciprofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole, respectively, while all of them retained their core moiety, responsible for the antibacterial activity. All the UV-C/H2O2-treated samples were found to be toxic, whereas the luminescence of V. fischeri was not inhibited when tested in the sunlight/H2O2-treated samples. During both processes, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and the colonies of these species still viable in the presence of antibiotics, were successfully inactivated to values below the detection limit. However, sunlight/H2O2 has not achieved complete disinfection, as regrowth of E. coli and P. aeruginosa colonies was observed after 48 h of storage of the treated effluent. Finally, none of the technologies tested was able to completely remove the target ARGs, confirming their inability to prevent the spread of resistance determinants to the environment.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Antibiotic residues in final effluents of European wastewater treatment plants and their impact on the aquatic environment

A comprehensive monitoring of a broad set of antibiotics in the final effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of 7 European countries (Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, Finland, and Norway) was carried out in two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). This is the first study of this kind performed at an international level. Within the 53 antibiotics monitored 17 were detected at least once in the final effluent of the WWTPs, i.e.: ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, enrofloxacin, orbifloxacin, azithromycin, clarithromycin, sulfapyridine, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, nalidixic acid, pipemidic acid, oxolinic acid, cefalexin, clindamycin, metronidazole, ampicillin, and tetracycline. The countries exhibiting the highest effluent average concentrations of antibiotics were Ireland and the southern countries Portugal and Spain, whereas the northern countries (Norway, Finland and Germany) and Cyprus exhibited lower total concentration. The antibiotic occurrence data in the final effluents were used for the assessment of their impact on the aquatic environment. Both, environmental predicted no effect concentration (PNEC-ENVs) and the PNECs based on minimal inhibitory concentrations (PNEC-MICs) were considered for the evaluation of the impact on microbial communities in aquatic systems and on the evolution of antibiotic resistance, respectively. Based on this analysis, three compounds, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin and cefalexin are proposed as markers of antibiotic pollution, as they could occasionally pose a risk to the environment. Integrated studies like this are crucial to map the impact of antibiotic pollution and to provide the basis for designing water quality and environmental risk in regular water monitoring programs.Peer reviewe

Antibiotic resistance in European wastewater treatment plants mirrors the pattern of clinical antibiotic resistance prevalence

Integrated antibiotic resistance (AR) surveillance is one of the objectives of the World Health Organization global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. Urban wastewater treatment plants (UWTPs) are among the most important receptors and sources of environmental AR. On the basis of the consistent observation of an increasing north-to-south clinical AR prevalence in Europe, this study compared the influent and final effluent of 12 UWTPs located in seven countries (Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, Finland, and Norway). Using highly parallel quantitative polymerase chain reaction, we analyzed 229 resistance genes and 25 mobile genetic elements. This first trans-Europe surveillance showed that UWTP AR profiles mirror the AR gradient observed in clinics. Antibiotic use, environmental temperature, and UWTP size were important factors related with resistance persistence and spread in the environment. These results highlight the need to implement regular surveillance and control measures, which may need to be appropriate for the geographic regions.Peer reviewe

Antibiotic resistance in European wastewater treatment plants mirrors the pattern of clinical antibiotic resistance prevalence

Integrated antibiotic resistance (AR) surveillance is one of the objectives of the World Health Organization global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. Urban wastewater treatment plants (UWTPs) are among the most import- ant receptors and sources of environmental AR. On the basis of the consistent observation of an increasing north- to-south clinical AR prevalence in Europe, this study compared the influent and final effluent of 12 UWTPs located in seven countries (Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, Finland, and Norway). Using highly parallel quanti - tative polymerase chain reaction, we analyzed 229 resistance genes and 25 mobile genetic elements. This first trans-Europe surveillance showed that UWTP AR profiles mirror the AR gradient observed in clinics. Antibiotic use, environmental temperature, and UWTP size were important factors related with resistance persistence and spread in the environment. These results highlight the need to implement regular surveillance and control mea- sures, which may need to be appropriate for the geographic regions

Making waves: The NORMAN antibiotic resistant bacteria and resistance genes database (NORMAN ARB&ARG)–An invitation for collaboration to tackle antibiotic resistance

With the global concerns on antibiotic resistance (AR) as a public health issue, it is pivotal to have data exchange platforms for studies on antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. For this purpose, the NORMAN Association is hosting the NORMAN ARB &ARG database, which was developed within the European project ANSWER. The present article provides an overview on the database functionalities, the extraction and the contribution of data to the database. In this study, AR data from three studies from China and Nepal were extracted and imported into the NORMAN ARB &ARG in addition to the existing AR data from 11 studies (mainly European studies) on the database. This feasibility study demonstrates how the scientific community can share their data on AR to generate an international evidence base to inform AR mitigation strategies. The open and FAIR data are of high potential relevance for regulatory applications, including the development of emission limit values / environmental quality standards in relation to AR. The growth in sharing of data and analytical methods will foster collaboration on risk management of AR worldwide, and facilitate the harmonization in the effort for identification and surveillance of critical hotspots of AR. The NORMAN ARB &ARG database is publicly available at: https://www.norman-network.com/nds/bacteria/

Removal of antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their associated genes by graphene-based TiO2 composite photocatalysts under solar radiation in urban wastewaters

Summarization: The present work investigated: (i) the removal of the antibiotics sulfamethoxazole (SMX), erythromycin (ERY) and clarithromycin (CLA); (ii) the inactivation of the total and antibiotic-resistant E. coli along with their regrowth potential after treatment; (iii) the removal of the total genomic DNA content; and (iv) the removal of selected antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), namely sul1, ampC, ermB, mecA, as well as species-specific sequences, namely ecfX for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and enterococci-specific 23S rRNA, by graphene-based TiO2 composite photocatalysts under solar radiation, in real urban wastewaters. TiO2-reduced graphene oxide (TiO2-rGO) composite photocatalysts were synthesized by two ex-situ synthesis methods, namely hydrothermal (HD) treatment and photocatalytic (PH) treatment, starting from graphene oxide and Aeroxide P25 TiO2, and were characterized with various techniques, such as XRD, FT-IR, Raman, XPS, SEM and surface area (BET) analyses. The potential of the synthesized TiO2-rGO composites for the removal of the abovementioned antibiotic-related microcontaminants was compared to the efficiency shown by pristine Aeroxide P25 TiO2 under simulated solar radiation, in real urban wastewater effluents treated by a membrane bioreactor. The results showed that TiO2-rGO-PH was more efficient in the photocatalytic degradation of ERY (84 ± 2%) and CLA (86 ± 5%), while degradation of SMX (87 ± 4%) was found to be slightly higher with Aeroxide P25 TiO2. It was also demonstrated that more than 180 min of treatment were satisfactory for the complete inactivation and complete absence of post-treatment regrowth of E. coli bacteria (<LOD) even 24 h after the end of the treatment, for all examined photocatalytic materials. The least amount of regrowth at all experimental times was observed in the presence of TiO2-rGO-HD. Moreover, the synthesized graphene-based photocatalysts successfully removed ampC and significantly reduced ecfX abundance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but sul1, ermB and 23S rRNA for enterococci sequences were found to be persistent throughout treatment with all catalyst types. Finally, the total DNA concentration remained stable throughout the photocatalytic treatment (4.2–4.8 ng μL−1), indicating the high total genomic DNA stability in treated wastewater and its resistance to photocatalytic treatment.Presented on