- “Hundreds of various ARGs encoding resistance to a broad range of antibiotics
have been found in microorganisms distributed not only in hospital wastewaters
and animal production wastewaters, but also in sewage, wastewater treatment
plants, surface water, groundwater, and even in drinking water.” - “Applications of antibiotics in human, veterinary medicine, and agriculture for
nearly 60 years have exerted a major impact on bacterial communities, resulting
in...hundreds of ARGs being detected in various water environments.” - “In Europe, nearly all types of ARGs were frequently detected in aquatic
environments of some countries, including Germany, Portugal, Belgium,
Denmark and Greece...As a result of extensive use of human and veterinary
antibiotics, hospital wastewater and livestock manure are considered as the major
sources of environmental ARGs.” - “Vancomycin resistance genes have been detected in dairy farm water of Italy,
human-derived wastewater of England, urban raw sewage, treated sewage and
surface water of Sweden [and] municipal wastewater, surface water, and
drinking water biofilms of Germany.” - “ARGs can be transferred into soils by amending farm land with animal manure
and processed biosludge from STPs and then can leach to groundwater or be
carried by runoff and erosion to surface water.” - “Surface water and shallow groundwater are commonly used as source of
drinking water; thus, ARGs can go through drinking water treatment facilities
and enter into water distribution systems.” - “Sewage receives the bacteria previously exposed to antibiotics from private
households and hospitals and is considered as a hotspot for ARGs. ARGs go into
STPs with sewage water, and most of them cannot be effectively removed with
traditional treatment process before being released into the environments.” - “STP effluent and sludge application to agricultural fields are recognized as
important sources of ARGs to surface waters and soils and subsequently into
groundwater.” - “ARgs emerge in aquatic environments as a direct result of intensive use of
antibiotics in hospitals, swine production areas, and fish farms.” - “ARGs themselves could be considered as environmental ‘pollutants’ since they
are widely distributed in various environmental compartments, including
wastewater and STPs, surface water, lagoon water of animal production areas,
aquaculture water, sediments and soil, groundwater, and drinking water.”
nancy kaufman
(Nancy Kaufman)
#1