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A Mini-Review of Antibiotic Resistance Drivers in Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants: Environmental Concentrations, Mechanism and Perspectives
Summary
This review examines the drivers of antibiotic resistance in urban wastewater treatment plants, including antibiotics, heavy metals, disinfectants, personal care products, and microplastics. Researchers summarized the concentration levels and mechanisms by which these chemical pollutants promote the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes. The study emphasizes the importance of studying these interactions under realistic conditions to better understand and mitigate antibiotic resistance in wastewater systems.
Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest challenges to public health and ecological safety in the 21st century. Urban wastewater treatment plants (UWTPs), as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), simultaneously contain a wide variety of chemical pollutants. The review introduces the actual concentration levels and the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance drivers (ARDs) in UWTPs, including antibiotics, heavy metals, disinfectants, cosmetics and personal care products, non-antibiotic drugs, and microplastics. Moreover, this review emphasizes the importance of approaching the actual activated sludge environment in future research and proposes future directions.
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