Antibiotic resistance of bioaerosols from wastewater treatment plants: pollution characteristics, sources, and potential risks

Abstract:

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are the major sources and sinks of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB), and bioaerosols are the key carriers for the emissions of ARGs and ARB from WWTPs to the surrounding environment. The systemic review about the pollution characteristics, sources, and potential risks of the antibiotic resistance of bioaerosols from WWTPs remains to be carried out. We reviewed the research status of antibiotic resistance pollution in bioaerosols from WWTPs from the perspectives of sampling and detection methods, escape characteristics, sources, and potential hazard and risk assessment. Inertial sampling and filtration were the commonly used methods for collecting antibiotic resistant bioaerosols from WWTPs. Metagenomic sequencing, assembly, and binning can probe into the composition, mobility, and hosts of ARGs. The ARGs conferring resistance to multidrug, bacitracin, aminoglycoside, tetracycline, beta-lactam, sulfonamide, macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin, and glycopeptide were widely detected in PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM_1.0 from WWTPs. The main emission units of ARGs and ARB loaded by PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM_1.0 from WWTPs were screen rooms, biochemical reaction tanks, and sludge treatment units. The existence of pathogenic ARB in size-segregated bioaerosols from WWTPs increased the difficulty of antibiotic treatment, and sewage and sludge contributed to the release of ARGs and ARB. Furthermore, relevant prospects were proposed in terms of research content, research technology, and control strategies, so as to provide references for monitoring and protecting against bioaerosol antibiotic resistance pollution in WWTPs.