Treatment plants can be a source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Last reviewed: 27.11.2021
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Water discharged into lakes and rivers from municipal treatment facilities may contain significant concentrations of genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics. This conclusion was reached by scientists who conducted a new study at the Upper Lake treatment plant in Duluth, Minnesota, USA, the results of which are published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology AC.
Timothy M. Lapara and his colleagues explain that bacteria resistant to antibiotics - a serious problem in modern medicine - are in large numbers in sewers that are part of the municipal sewage treatment plant.
To determine the importance of municipal wastewater treatment plants as sources of antibiotic-resistant genes, scientists studied the emissions of sewage containing these genes at the Duluth facility.
Although the Duluth facility uses the most advanced technologies for wastewater treatment - the so-called post-treatment, the study identified it as an important source of genes for resistance to antibiotics. Water sampling at 13 sites revealed three genes: genes that make bacteria resistant to the tetracycline group of antibiotics, which are used to treat acne, sexually transmitted infections, anthrax and bubonic plague. Timothy M. Lapara's team says that their research demonstrates that even the most high-tech treatment plants can be a significant source of genes for resistance to antibiotics.