Dynamics of integron structures across a wastewater network – Implications to resistance gene transfer

Quintela-Baluja, Marcos; Frigon, Dominic; Abouelnaga, Mohamed; Jobling, Kelly; Romalde, Jesús L.; López, Mariano Gómez; Graham, David W.

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2021.117720

“…Therefore, combining genotypic methods, such as qPCR, extends monitoring to gene-specific targets to accompany phenotypic data. Targeting MGEs which may be high-risk also can be valuable (Zhang et al 2021a), or have been found to closely reflect anthropogenic resistance, using the Intl1 (Gillings et al 2015) or aintl1 (Quintela-Baluja et al 2021) assays. Genotypic methods like qPCR can provide accurate quantitative data on AMR abundance which can be normalised to cell abundance through co-quantification of genes like 16S rRNA.…”

Section: Laboratory Analysis Methodologies For Amrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research needs for optimising wastewater-based epidemiology monitoring for public health protection

Robins,

Leonard,

Farkas

et al. 2023

Wastewater-Based Epidemiology at the Frontier of Global Public Health

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an unobtrusive method used to observe patterns in illicit drug use, poliovirus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The pandemic and need for surveillance measures have led to the rapid acceleration of WBE research and development globally. With the infrastructure available to monitor SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater in 58 countries globally, there is potential to expand targets and applications for public health protection, such as other viral pathogens, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), pharmaceutical consumption, or exposure to chemical pollutants. Some applications have been explored in academic research but are not used to inform public health decision-making. We reflect on the current knowledge of WBE for these applications and identify barriers and opportunities for expanding beyond SARS-CoV-2. This paper critically reviews the applications of WBE for public health and identifies the important research gaps for WBE to be a useful tool in public health. It considers possible uses for pathogenic viruses, AMR, and chemicals. It summarises the current evidence on the following: (1) the presence of markers in stool and urine; (2) environmental factors influencing persistence of markers in wastewater; (3) methods for sample collection and storage; (4) prospective methods for detection and quantification; (5) reducing uncertainties; and (6) further considerations for public health use.

show abstract

“…Therefore, combining genotypic methods, such as qPCR, extends monitoring to gene-specific targets to accompany phenotypic data. Targeting MGEs which may be high-risk also can be valuable (Zhang et al 2021a(Zhang et al , 2021b, or have been found to closely reflect anthropogenic resistance, using the Intl1 (Gillings et al 2015) or aintl1 (Quintela-Baluja et al 2021) assays. Genotypic methods like qPCR can provide accurate quantitative data on AMR abundance which can be normalised to cell abundance through co-quantification of genes like 16S rRNA.…”

Section: Laboratory Analysis Methodologies For Amrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research needs for optimising wastewater-based epidemiology monitoring for public health protection

Robins

¹

,

Leonard

²

,

Farkas

³

et al. 2022

Journal of Water and Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an unobtrusive method used to observe patterns in illicit drug use, poliovirus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The pandemic and need for surveillance measures have led to the rapid acceleration of WBE research and development globally. With the infrastructure available to monitor SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater in 58 countries globally, there is potential to expand targets and applications for public health protection, such as other viral pathogens, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), pharmaceutical consumption, or exposure to chemical pollutants. Some applications have been explored in academic research but are not used to inform public health decision-making. We reflect on the current knowledge of WBE for these applications and identify barriers and opportunities for expanding beyond SARS-CoV-2. This paper critically reviews the applications of WBE for public health and identifies the important research gaps for WBE to be a useful tool in public health. It considers possible uses for pathogenic viruses, AMR, and chemicals. It summarises the current evidence on the following: (1) the presence of markers in stool and urine; (2) environmental factors influencing persistence of markers in wastewater; (3) methods for sample collection and storage; (4) prospective methods for detection and quantification; (5) reducing uncertainties; and (6) further considerations for public health use.

show abstract

“…Integron markers have also been shown to be more prevalent in hospital wastewater environments where the use of antibiotics is more intensive. 36 Horizontal gene transfer through mechanisms such as transduction and natural transformation has been reported to play a significant role in the spread of antibiotic resistance integron genes in hospitals and other clinical settings. 37 It is important to note that while plasmids were investigated in this study, the possible involvement of integron genes in transposons for the acquisition of antibiotic resistance by the non-plasmid isolates cannot be discounted.…”

Section: Plasmid Profile Analysis Of Escherichia Coli and Staphylococ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic Characterization and Plasmid DNA Profiling of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in Wastewater Effluents From Healthcare Environments in Lafia, Nigeria

Nfongeh,

Okonkwo,

Odonye

et al. 2023

Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus are frequent culprits of severe healthcare-associated infections and have been identified as significant pollutants in hospital settings. The research into plasmids as potential carriers for transferring new resistance genes among clinical pathogens has been quite constrained. This study was conducted to determine the extent of multidrug resistance and the presence of plasmids in E. coli and S. aureus isolates derived from wastewater effluents at healthcare institutions in Lafia, Nigeria. Methods: A total of 231 effluent samples were collected from different units within the healthcare facilities and bacterial identification performed using standard CLSI identification techniques. Phenotypic multidrug resistance was analyzed using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method while plasmid DNA was extracted by alkaline lysis and separated using 0.8% agarose gel electrophoresis. Results: A total of 167 (72.3%) and 175 (75.6%) samples were positive for E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. Both E. coli and S. aureus exhibited the greatest resistance to amoxicillin, with resistance rates of 79.0% and 66.3%, respectively. Conversely, the lowest resistance was observed for levofloxacin (26.3%) and cotrimoxazole (25.1%) in E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. The study did not find any significant correlation between the phenotypic antibiotic resistance profiles of the isolates and different wastewater discharge points (P>0.05). Out of the total isolates, 77 (46.1%) of E. coli and 51 (29.1%) of S. aureus were resistant to all tested antibiotics. A majority of these isolates exhibited multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) values greater than 0.5, with 87.4% of E. coli and 80.6% of S. aureus demonstrating multidrug resistance. Plasmid analysis for E. coli indicated that the largest proportion of the selected isolates (46.7%) carried double plasmids with sizes ranging from 1500 to 6000 base pairs (bp), and 6.7% had no plasmids. In the case of S. aureus, 53.3% of the isolates harbored a single plasmid with a size of 7500 bp, while 46.7% had no plasmids. Conclusion: The wastewater discharged from healthcare facilities in the examined community was found to be significantly contaminated with multidrug-resistant organisms carrying plasmids with resistance genes.

show abstract

Dynamics of integron structures across a wastewater network – Implications to resistance gene transfer

Cited by 24 publications

References 50 publications

Research needs for optimising wastewater-based epidemiology monitoring for public health protection

Research needs for optimising wastewater-based epidemiology monitoring for public health protection

Research needs for optimising wastewater-based epidemiology monitoring for public health protection

Phenotypic Characterization and Plasmid DNA Profiling of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in Wastewater Effluents From Healthcare Environments in Lafia, Nigeria

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About