Fluoroquinolones
and <i>qnr</i> Genes in
Sediment, Water, Soil, and Human Fecal Flora in an Environment Polluted
by Manufacturing Discharges
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Abstract
There
is increasing concern that environmental antibiotic pollution
promotes transfer of resistance genes to the human microbiota. Here,
fluoroquinolone-polluted river sediment, well water, irrigated farmland,
and human fecal flora of local villagers within a pharmaceutical industrial
region in India were analyzed for quinolone resistance (<i>qnr)</i> genes by quantitative PCR. Similar samples from Indian villages
farther away from industrial areas, as well as fecal samples from
Swedish study participants and river sediment from Sweden, were included
for comparison. Fluoroquinolones were detected by MS/MS in well water
and soil from all villages located within three km from industrially
polluted waterways. Quinolone resistance genes were detected in 42%
of well water, 7% of soil samples and in 100% and 18% of Indian and
Swedish river sediments, respectively. High antibiotic concentrations
in Indian sediment coincided with high abundances of <i>qnr</i>, whereas lower fluoroquinolone levels in well water and soil did
not. We could not find support for an enrichment of <i>qnr</i> in fecal samples from people living in the fluoroquinolone-contaminated
villages. However, as <i>qnr</i> was detected in 91% of
all Indian fecal samples (24% of the Swedish) it suggests that the
spread of <i>qnr</i> between people is currently a dominating
transmission route