A Review of Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Their Removal Strategies from Wastewater

NOOR, ZAINURA ZAINON; RABIU, ZAINAB; SANI, MOHD. HELMI MOHD.; SAMAD, ABDUL FATAH A.; KAMARODDIN, MOHD. FARIZAL AHMAD; PEREZ, MARÍA FLORENCIA; DIB, JULIAN RAFAEL; FATIMA, HUMA; SINHA, RAJESHWARI; KHARE, SUNIL KUMAR; ZAKARIA, ZAINUL AKMAR

Current Pollution Reports

Springer International Publishing AG

Año: 2021

Unsafe disposal and incomplete metabolism of antibiotics is of concern due to its potential acquired resistance mechanism by microorganisms present in the environment. The antibiotic resistant properties in microorganisms, such as bacteria, can result in delayed healing of infected wounds causing secondary pathogenicity and increased virulence that would ultimately lead to prolonged illness, hospitalisation and even death. Different techniques have been proposed to remove both antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARBs) and antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) from water and wastewater systems with various degree of success. There is a direct correlation between the concentration of antibiotics in wastewater and the emergence of ARBs and the presence of ARGs. Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) remain as one of the primary sources for ARB and ARG, even though the occurrence of ARBs and ARGs has also been reported in environment with no anthropogenic impact. Conventional removal techniques are available together with newer approaches that promises higher ARBs and ARGs removal efficiencies. Use of bioinformatic tools such as plasmidome is important to ensure sufficient information on ARGs which may be directly mobilized and transferred to pathogens, can be obtained and analyzed.This review highlight the human health effects from potential continuous exposure to ARBs and ARGs present in the environment from various sources, notably wastewater. Sources of antibiotics from human activities, classes of ARBs, types of ARGs are adequately covered including recent information from different countries. The use of conventional and newer approaches in the removal of ARBs and ARGs from wastewater was also elaborated to further assist reader?s understanding on the subject discussed.