Fecal pollution can explain antibiotic resistance gene abundances in anthropogenically impacted environments

environments effected by drug manufacturing are polluted with high levels of antibiotics, analyses show clear selection for antibiotic resistance as the ARG abundance cannot be explained away by fecal pollution. 

     People taking antibiotics for granted is nothing new, but often overlooked is how our demand for antibiotics can interact with our culture that pollutes with reckless abandon. Antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria are nothing recent, relatively speaking, but what is new is how we are seeing an increase of Antibiotic Resistant Genes being released in sewage waste, pharmaceutical waste, and agricultural waste.

    Utilizing metagenomics to compare, cultures were cultivated from samples of soil from farms, rivers, waste water treatment plants, pharmaceutical industry waste, and hospital waste from around the world, ARGs were found not come from selection, but from sheer presence of antibiotics. More ARGs were found at locations where antibiotics were manufactured and where livestock was kept.  Animal sewage containing nearly 100 times the amount of ARGs present in human sewage. The soils located around livestock and pharmaceutical industry were found to be hotspots of ARG selection compared to human waste water treatment plants.  Yet it is still assumed that fecal pollution is still a large driver of ARG cultivation and spread.

    Despite these findings, the extent of the impact that these ARGs possess is not known and must be studied further.  

reference:

Karkman, A., Pärnänen, K. & Larsson, D.G.J. Fecal pollution can explain antibiotic resistance gene abundances in anthropogenically impacted environments. Nat Commun 10, 80 (2019).