Antibiotic Resistance in Marine Microbial Communities Proximal to a Florida Sewage Outfall System

Abstract

Water samples were collected at several wastewater treatment plants in southeast Florida, and water and sediment samples were collected along and around one outfall pipe, as well as along several transects extending both north and south of the respective outfall outlet. Two sets of samples were collected to address potential seasonal differences, including 38 in the wet season (June 2018) and 42 in the dry season (March 2019). Samples were screened for the presence/absence of 15 select antibiotic resistance gene targets using the polymerase chain reaction. A contrast between seasons was found, with a higher frequency of detections occurring in the wet season and fewer during the dry season. These data illustrate an anthropogenic influence on offshore microbial genetics and seasonal flux regarding associated health risks to recreational users and the regional ecosystem.

Ubiquitousness of Haloferax and Carotenoid Producing Genes in Arabian Sea Coastal Biosystems of India

“…The landlocked nations in the northern part of India account for about 30% of the world population, which could be sewage and industrial effluent [ 99 , 100 , 101 ]. Such anthropogenic activity enriches antibiotic-resistant genes in the coastal environment [ 102 , 103 , 104 ]. Furthermore, our previous metagenomic studies identified the prevalence of ARGs in the Kerala mangrove sediments [ 105 ].…”

Taxonomic and Functional Distribution of Bacterial Communities in Domestic and Hospital Wastewater System: Implications for Public and Environmental Health

“…While ammonia was detected in both DWW (0.75) and HWW (0.13), nutrients such as nitrites and nitrates were not detected in HWW. Literature evidence suggests that the presence of antibiotic compounds in the environment is detrimental, as they may kill off nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, impacting the process of nitrogen fixation in the terrestrial environment [ 33 ] while at the same time exerting a selective pressure that favors the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacterial communities [ 34 , 35 ]. The concentration of chloride and fluoride ions in HWW exceeded the EPA permissible limits as well as the Indian standards for wastewater discharge.…”

Antimicrobial Drug-Resistant Gram-Negative Saprophytic Bacteria Isolated from Ambient, Near-Shore Sediments of an Urbanized Estuary: Absence of β-Lactamase Drug-Resistance Genes

“…Although no recognized pathogenic GNB species were identified, many culturable isolates exhibited resistance to clinically used antimicrobial agents. Most studies assessing the presence of drug resistance in environmental bacteria thoroughly characterize a small number of sites, typically near known point-source pollutant effluent locations [1,17,18,26,34,35]. There have also been some comparative surveys across multiple water bodies [6,15].…”

“…These findings may be related to secondary and tertiary treatment operations and control measures for all wastewaters that drain into the Bay [28], in combination with the large dilution factor due to tidal exchange, resulting in low ambient sediment bacterial pollution in this estuary. These hypotheses could be tested in the future by evaluating resistance profiles and mechanisms in bacteria obtained from point sources and adjacent locations, including wastewater discharge effluents [1,4,18,34,35]. However, our study represents just one line of evidence, and routine water monitoring does periodically detect elevated fecal coliforms at some beaches [32].…”

“…This selective process has dramatically affected global health; drug-resistant infections have become widespread globally [7][8][9][10] and were recently estimated at over 2 million infections in the United States annually [11]. Environmental and saprophytic bacteria are important as indicators and reservoirs of antibiotic resistance determinants that may be shared by human bacterial pathogens [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”