Impact of untreated urban waste on the prevalence and antibiotic resistance profiles of human opportunistic pathogens in agricultural soils from Burkina Faso

Abstract

This study examined the long-term effects of the landfill disposal of untreated urban waste for soil fertilization on the prevalence and antibiotic resistance profiles of various human opportunistic pathogens in soils from Burkina Faso. Samples were collected at three sites in the periphery of Ouagadougou during two campaigns in 2008 and 2011. At each site, amendment led to changes in physico-chemical characteristics as shown by the increase in pH, CEC, total C, total N, and metal contents. Similarly, the numbers of total heterotrophic bacteria were higher in the amended fields than in the control ones. No sanitation indicators, i.e., coliforms, Staphylococci, and Enterococci, were detected. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) were detected at a low level in one amended field. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia was detected from both campaigns at the three sites in the amended fields and only once in an unamended field. Diversity analysis showed some opportunistic pathogen isolates to be closely related to reference clinical strains responsible for nosocomial- or community-acquired infections in Northern countries. Antibiotic resistance tests showed that P. aeruginosa and Bcc isolates had a wild-type phenotype and that most S. maltophilia isolates had a multi-drug resistance profile with resistance to 7 to 15 antibiotics. Then we were able to show that amendment led to an increase of some human opportunistic pathogens including multi-drug resistant isolates. Although the application of untreated urban waste increases both soil organic matter content and therefore soil fertility, the consequences of this practice on human health should be considered.

Comparative Genomics of Environmental and Clinical Burkholderia cenocepacia Strains Closely Related to the Highly Transmissible Epidemic ET12 Lineage

“…The presence of genes involved in xenobiotic degradation and nitrate respiration suggested that F01 is well adapted to agricultural soil. Historically, F01 was isolated in 2008 from a soil characterized by an absence of amendment for at least 10 years ( Youenou et al, 2016 ). A recent anthropogenic origin of F01 could therefore be excluded.…”

“…The B. cenocepacia strain F01 was isolated form an agricultural soil in the periphery of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso (sub-sahelian climate). The soil was sampled in a field planted with sorghum in June 2008, 6 months after the crop harvest ( Youenou et al, 2016 ). Characterization of the strain F01 according to the Bcc was performed as described in Mahenthiralingam et al (2000) by amplification of 1043 bp of the recA gene with BCR1 and BCR2 primers.…”

Antecedents and consequences of adopting CLTS among tribal communities to become open defecation free: case study on Indian Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

“…The social and behavioral impact of CLTS is another interesting area where researchers have identified the social and behavioral issues specifically relating to CLTS (Lawrence 2016;Nutor 2020;Sari 2019). Some literature studies have beautifully explored the impact of CLTS on Environmental and Social Sustainability (Belizario 2016;Head 2019;Jena 2018;Kaminsky 2015;Kresch 2020;Soboksa 2019;Youenou 2016) thereby adding a unique dimension to the study.…”

Qualitative microbiome profiling along a wastewater system in Kampala, Uganda

“…The Nakivubo wetland area is also subjected to flooding events, especially during the rainy season, and this puts an estimated 12,000 individuals in the surrounding slums at risk of direct contact with wastewater 13,17 . Thus far, several studies highlighted the potential risk of exposure to wastewater on human health 15,16,18–21 . A previous study by Fuhrimann et al .…”

“…species/strains). Hence, detailed phylogenetic and microbiological information on the exact composition of pathogenic organisms is scarce, especially in rapidly growing urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa 21,25 such as Kampala.…”