Abstract
Antimicrobial agents (antimicrobials) are a group of therapeutic and hygienic agents that either kill microorganisms or inhibit their growth. Their occurrence in surface water may reveal harmful effects on aquatic biota and challenge microbial populations. Recently, there is a growing concern over the contamination of surface water with both antimicrobial agents and multidrug-resistant bacteria. The aim of the study was the determination of the presence of selected antimicrobials at specific locations of the Vistula River (Poland), as well as in tap water samples originating from the Warsaw region. Analysis was performed using the liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry method. In addition, the occurrence of drug-resistant bacteria and resistance genes was determined using standard procedures. This 2-year study is the first investigation of the simultaneous presence of antimicrobial agents, drug-resistant bacteria, and genes in Polish surface water. In Poland, relatively high concentrations of macrolides are observed in both surface and tap water. Simultaneous to the high macrolide levels in the environment, the presence of the erm B gene, coding the resistance to macrolides, lincosamides, and streptogramin, was detected in almost all sampling sites. Another ubiquitous gene was int1, an element of the 5′-conserved segment of class 1 integrons that encode site-specific integrase. Also, resistant isolates of Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis and Gram-negative bacteria were recovered. Multidrug-resistant bacteria isolates of Gram-negative and Enterococcus were also detected. The results show that wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are the main source of most antimicrobials, resistant bacteria, and genes in the aquatic environment, probably due to partial purification during wastewater treatment processes.
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Abbreviations
- ARG:
-
Antibiotic resistance genes
- ATC:
-
Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical
- ATCC:
-
American Type Culture Collection
- CLSI:
-
Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute
- DDD:
-
Defined daily doses
- MDL:
-
Method detection limit
- MQL:
-
Method quantitation limit
- MEC:
-
Measured environmental concentration
- MIC:
-
Minimal inhibitory concentration
- MRB:
-
Multidrug-resistant bacteria
- PECeff :
-
Predicted environmental concentration in effluents
- PECsw :
-
Predicted environmental concentration in surface water
- WWTP:
-
Wastewater treatment plants
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank M. Giebułtowicz for drug sales data analysis and Katarzyna Sikorska and Ryszard Marszałek for their technical support during LC-MS/MS analysis. The authors are also very grateful to Ewa Bocian, Anna Zawistowska-Rojek, Agnieszka Mrowka, and Hanna Kruszewska for their significant contribution in the conduct of the microbiological study and Karolina Nowakowska for technical assistance in DNA isolation.
Funding
This project was funded by The National Science Center, NCN (2011/03/B/NZ7/00751). Genetic research and LC-MS/MS analysis were carried out with the use of the CePT infrastructure financed by the European Union—the European Regional Development Fund within the Operational Program “Innovative economy” for 2007–2013.
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Giebułtowicz, J., Tyski, S., Wolinowska, R. et al. Occurrence of antimicrobial agents, drug-resistant bacteria, and genes in the sewage-impacted Vistula River (Poland). Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 5788–5807 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0861-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0861-x