Antibiotic Resistance in Wastewater Treatment Plants
A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Mechanism and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 April 2025 | Viewed by 1108
Special Issue Editor
Interests: detection of biological contaminants, geochemical behavior, and risk prevention and control; antibiotic resistance in the environment; applications of machine learning in the environment
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The improper use of antibiotics worldwide has led to the development of antibiotic resistance, emerging as one of the greatest concerns of this century. Numerous strategies have been implemented to combat antibiotic resistance. While clinical strategies are crucial, managing antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in the environment is equally important, as antibiotic resistance can transfer across humans, animals and the environment, a concept known as the One Health concern. Wastewater treatment plants are major environmental reservoirs that not only receive wastewater containing antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), but also release treated wastewater containing ARGs into various environments. Therefore, research on antibiotic resistance in wastewater treatment plants is essential for understanding the development of antibiotic resistance and formulating appropriate strategies.
In wastewater treatment plants, ARGs undergo complex processes, including reproduction, mutation and decay. They can also be horizontally transferred to new hosts, leading to the further development of antibiotic resistance. Conventional wastewater treatment processes, such as biological and disinfection processes, may not effectively eliminate ARGs, potentially releasing them into rivers, lakes and soils, depending on the wastewater disposal methods used.
Despite a growing number of scientific publications on the occurrence, distribution and removal of ARGs in wastewater treatment plants, several concerns remain to be addressed:
- Methodologies for identifying antibiotic resistance genes and their hosts in wastewater;
- Sources of antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment plants;
- The occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in different physical states, especially extracellular ARGs, in wastewater treatment plants;
- Horizontal gene transfer of ARGs within wastewater treatment plants;
- Factors influencing the development of antibiotic resistance during wastewater treatment;
- The release and fate of antibiotic resistance genes in the receiving environment;
- Advanced techniques for the elimination of ARGs in wastewater.
This Special Issue addresses these issues in line with antibiotic management across various settings.
Dr. Qingbin Yuan
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- antibiotic resistance genes
- wastewater treatment
- one health
- distribution and removal of ARGs
- horizontal gene transfer
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