Co-occurrence of antibiotic and metal resistance in long-term sewage sludge-amended soils: influence of application rates and pedo-climatic conditions.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
; 2022 Nov 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2272623
ABSTRACT
Urban sewage sludge (USS) is increasingly being used as an alternative organic amendment in agriculture. Because USS originates mostly from human excreta, partially metabolized pharmaceuticals have also been considered in risk assessment studies after reuse. In this regard, we investigated the cumulative effect of five annual USS applications on the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and their subsequent resistance to toxic metals in two unvegetated soils. Eventually, USS contained bacterial strains resistant to all addressed antibiotics with indices of resistance varying between 0.25 for gentamicin to 38% for ampicillin and azithromycin. Sludge-amended soils showed also the emergence of resistome for all tested antibiotics compared to non-treated controls. In this regard, the increase of sludge dose generally correlated with ARB counts, while soil texture had no influence. On the other hand, the multi-antibiotic resistance (MAR) of 52 isolates selected from USS and different soil treatments was investigated for 10 most prescribed antibiotics. Nine isolates showed significant MAR index (≥ 0.3) and co-resistance to Cd, As and Be as well. However, events including an extreme flash flood and the termination of USS applications significantly disrupted ARB communities in all soil treatments. In any case, this study highlighted the risks of ARB spread in sludge-amended soils and a greater concern with the recent exacerbation of antibiotic overuse following COVID-19 outbreak.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Journal subject:
Environmental Health
/
Toxicology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S11356-022-23802-2
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS