Occurrence and persistence of carbapenemases genes in hospital and wastewater treatment plants and propagation in the receiving river

Lorenzo Proia; Adriana Anzil; Carles Borrego; Marinella Farrè; Marta Llorca; Josep Sanchis; Pierre Bogaerts; Jose Luis Balcázar; Pierre Servais

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.06.058

Occurrence and persistence of carbapenemases genes in hospital and wastewater treatment plants and propagation in the receiving river

J Hazard Mater. 2018 Sep 15:358:33-43. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.06.058. Epub 2018 Jun 25.

Authors

Lorenzo Proia¹, Adriana Anzil², Carles Borrego³, Marinella Farrè⁴, Marta Llorca⁴, Josep Sanchis⁴, Pierre Bogaerts⁵, Jose Luis Balcázar⁶, Pierre Servais²

Affiliations

¹ Ecologie des Systèmes Aquatiques, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine, CP 221, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: proialorenzo@hotmail.it.
² Ecologie des Systèmes Aquatiques, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine, CP 221, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
³ Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), H2O Building, Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona, Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain; Group of Molecular Microbial Ecology, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Girona, Campus de Montilivi, 17003, Girona, Spain.
⁴ Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
⁵ Laboratory of Clinical Microbiology, Belgian National Reference Center for Monitoring Antimicrobial Resistance in Gram-negative Bacteria, CHU UCL Avenue Docteur G. Thérasse, 1, 5530, Yvoir, Belgium.
⁶ Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), H2O Building, Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona, Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain.

PMID: 29960932
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.06.058

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the prevalence of clinically relevant carbapenemases genes (bla_KPC, bla_NDM and bla_OXA-48) in water samples collected over one-year period from hospital (H), raw and treated wastewater of two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as well as along the Zenne River (Belgium). The genes were quantified in both particle-attached (PAB) and free-living (FLB) bacteria. Our results showed that absolute abundances were the highest in H waters. Although absolute abundances were significantly reduced in WWTP effluents, the relative abundance (normalized per 16S rRNA) was never lowered through wastewater treatment. Particularly, for the PAB the relative abundances were significantly higher in the effluents respect to the influents of both WWTPs for all the genes. The absolute abundances along the Zenne River increased from upstream to downstream, peaking after the release of WWTPs effluents, in both fractions. Our results demonstrated that bla_KPC, bla_NDM and bla_OXA-48 are widely distributed in the Zenne as a consequence of chronic discharge from WWTPs. To conclude, the levels of carbapenemases genes are significantly lower than other genes conferring resistance to more widely used antibiotics (analyzed in previous studies carried out at the same sites), but could raise up to the levels of high prevalent resistance genes.

Keywords: ARGs; Carbapenemases genes; Hospital; Urban River; Wastewaters.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
Belgium
Drug Resistance, Bacterial
Genes, Bacterial*
Hospitals*
Rivers / chemistry
Rivers / microbiology*
Wastewater / chemistry
Wastewater / microbiology*
Water Purification*
beta-Lactamases / genetics*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Bacterial Proteins
Waste Water
beta-Lactamases
carbapenemase