TY - JOUR
T1 - Framework for establishing regulatory guidelines to control antibiotic resistance in treated effluents
AU - Manaia, Célia M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was commissioned and partially funded by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and DG Environment of the European Commission, as part of a series of studies coordinated by Dr. Alberto Pistocchi in support to the impact assessment of policy options to revise the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. This work has also received funding from the European Research Council Funder European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation through the project “Research platform on antibiotic resistance spread through wastewater treatment plants, REPARES” Programme Grant Agreement 857552; H2020-WIDESPREAD-2018–03.CMM thanks the Library and Information Management services (UCP, Porto) for their support in collecting literature and OCNunes (LEPABE/Univ. Porto) for the revision of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to human-health and wellbeing. Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are environmental contaminants that circulate among humans, animals and the environment. In urban areas, wastewater treatment plants are the major recipients of these contaminants. Despite the partial elimination during treatment, final effluents, even after disinfection, contain high doses of ARB&ARG. The consequent continuous discharge of these effluents has important adverse impacts, which are particularly intense in vulnerable and deteriorated receiving environments (e.g., due to pollution, droughts or floods, reduced biodiversity). ARB&ARGs are biological contaminants capable of self-replication and horizontal gene-transfer, capabilities that due to pollution-induced selective pressure effects or absence of competition can be enhanced in deteriorated environments. Moreover, as other contaminants, ARB&ARGs can be transported, mainly through water, increasing the risks of circling back as a source of exposure to humans. The current knowledge about antibiotic resistance implications in terms of environmental contamination and risks to human-health, as well as the advances on wastewater treatment technology and antibiotic resistance quantification methods, support the need and timeliness of implementing regular wastewater monitoring systems. Because no single chemical or microbiological parameter can be used to infer the antibiotic resistance load, its specific monitoring should be part of the parameters used to assess wastewater quality. The definition of minimal requirements and integrated monitoring are essential to map antibiotic resistance at time- and space scales, and to design and implement corrective measures. These goals are technically and economically feasible and should be incorporated into wastewater quality directives.
AB - Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to human-health and wellbeing. Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are environmental contaminants that circulate among humans, animals and the environment. In urban areas, wastewater treatment plants are the major recipients of these contaminants. Despite the partial elimination during treatment, final effluents, even after disinfection, contain high doses of ARB&ARG. The consequent continuous discharge of these effluents has important adverse impacts, which are particularly intense in vulnerable and deteriorated receiving environments (e.g., due to pollution, droughts or floods, reduced biodiversity). ARB&ARGs are biological contaminants capable of self-replication and horizontal gene-transfer, capabilities that due to pollution-induced selective pressure effects or absence of competition can be enhanced in deteriorated environments. Moreover, as other contaminants, ARB&ARGs can be transported, mainly through water, increasing the risks of circling back as a source of exposure to humans. The current knowledge about antibiotic resistance implications in terms of environmental contamination and risks to human-health, as well as the advances on wastewater treatment technology and antibiotic resistance quantification methods, support the need and timeliness of implementing regular wastewater monitoring systems. Because no single chemical or microbiological parameter can be used to infer the antibiotic resistance load, its specific monitoring should be part of the parameters used to assess wastewater quality. The definition of minimal requirements and integrated monitoring are essential to map antibiotic resistance at time- and space scales, and to design and implement corrective measures. These goals are technically and economically feasible and should be incorporated into wastewater quality directives.
KW - Chang-Ping Yu and Scott Bradford
KW - Impacts
KW - Monitoring
KW - Risks reduction
KW - Wastewater treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132377823&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10643389.2022.2085956
DO - 10.1080/10643389.2022.2085956
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85132377823
SN - 1064-3389
VL - 53
SP - 754
EP - 779
JO - Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 6
ER -