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Antibiotic-resistant genes and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the effluent of urban residential areas, hospitals, and a municipal wastewater treatment plant system

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Abstract

In this study, we determined the abundance of 8 antibiotics (3 tetracyclines, 4 sulfonamides, and 1 trimethoprim), 12 antibiotic-resistant genes (10 tet, 2 sul), 4 antibiotic-resistant bacteria (tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, and combined resistance), and class 1 integron integrase gene (intI1) in the effluent of residential areas, hospitals, and municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) systems. The concentrations of total/individual targets (antibiotics, genes, and bacteria) varied remarkably among different samples, but the hospital samples generally had a lower abundance than the residential area samples. The WWTP demonstrated removal efficiencies of 50.8 % tetracyclines, 66.8 % sulfonamides, 0.5 logs to 2.5 logs tet genes, and less than 1 log of sul and intI1 genes, as well as 0.5 log to 1 log removal for target bacteria. Except for the total tetracycline concentration and the proportion of tetracycline-resistant bacteria (R 2 = 0.330, P < 0.05), there was no significant correlation between antibiotics and the corresponding resistant bacteria (P > 0.05). In contrast, various relationships were identified between antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (P < 0.05). Tet (A) and tet (B) displayed noticeable relationships with both tetracycline and combined antibiotic-resistant bacteria (P < 0.01).

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the managers of hospitals/residential areas and wastewater treatment plant for providing the samples and information required for this study. Support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (21277117 and 21210008) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, People’s Republic of China

    Jianan Li, Weixiao Cheng, Like Xu & Hong Chen

  2. Centre for Solid Waste Bioprocessing, School of Civil Engineering and School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia

    P. J. Strong

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  1. Jianan Li
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  2. Weixiao Cheng
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  3. Like Xu
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  4. P. J. Strong
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  5. Hong Chen
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Correspondence to Hong Chen.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Li, J., Cheng, W., Xu, L. et al. Antibiotic-resistant genes and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the effluent of urban residential areas, hospitals, and a municipal wastewater treatment plant system. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 4587–4596 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3665-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3665-2

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