Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Unveiling the Interactions Between the Antibiotic Resistome and Microplastics Influenced by Trace Elements and PPCPs in Wastewater Treatment Plants

Researchers monitored wastewater treatment plants containing microplastics, trace elements, and pharmaceutical/personal care products, finding that these co-occurring pollutants interact to influence the survival and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes through the treatment process.

2025 Utah State Research and Scholarship (Utah State University)
Article Tier 2

A Mini-Review of Antibiotic Resistance Drivers in Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants: Environmental Concentrations, Mechanism and Perspectives

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.

2023 Water 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions of microplastics, antibiotics and antibiotic resistant genes within WWTPs

This review examined the interactions between microplastics, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance genes within wastewater treatment plants, analyzing how MPs serve as carriers for antimicrobial compounds and facilitate the spread of resistance in microbial communities.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 145 citations
Article Tier 2

Antibiotic and Non-Antibiotic Determinants of Antimicrobial Resistance: Insights from Water Ecosystems

This review explains how non-antibiotic pollutants like heavy metals, biocides, and microplastics are contributing to antibiotic resistance in water systems, beyond the well-known problem of antibiotic overuse. Wastewater treatment plants are hotspots where these pollutants interact with bacteria, promoting the spread of resistance genes through mobile genetic elements. The findings are concerning for human health because drug-resistant bacteria from water environments can ultimately reach people through drinking water and food.

2024 ACS ES&T Water 10 citations
Article Tier 2

The interplay between antimicrobial resistance genes and emerging contaminants in wastewater treatment plants: Key players in One Health

Researchers reviewed how wastewater treatment plants interact with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and emerging contaminants including microplastics, finding that microplastics and heavy metals help antibiotic resistance genes spread through microbial communities. This makes treatment plants hotspots for creating harder-to-treat bacterial strains, posing a broad public health risk that connects environmental pollution to human medicine.

2025 Annals of Microbiology
Article Tier 2

Research progress on the origin, fate, impacts and harm of microplastics and antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment plants

This review explores how microplastics and antibiotic resistance genes interact in wastewater treatment plants, where they can survive treatment and enter the environment together. The concern for human health is that these contaminants can travel through the food chain, potentially increasing illness from antibiotic-resistant infections.

2024 Scientific Reports 49 citations
Article Tier 2

Collaborative removal of microplastics, bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes, and heavy metals in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant

Researchers tracked how a full-scale wastewater treatment plant in China simultaneously removes microplastics, bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes, and heavy metals, finding that while the plant removed over 80% of incoming microplastics, those that remained in the effluent were associated with elevated levels of antibiotic resistance genes and heavy metals. Microplastics appeared to serve as carriers that concentrate and co-transport these co-contaminants through treatment processes. This raises important concerns: even "clean" treated wastewater discharged into rivers may carry microplastics loaded with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and toxic metals.

2025 Water Science & Technology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

The interplay between antimicrobial resistance, heavy metal pollution, and the role of microplastics

This review explores the three-way connection between microplastics, heavy metals, and antibiotic resistance in the environment. Microplastics serve as surfaces where bacteria form biofilms and exchange resistance genes, while heavy metals have been driving bacterial resistance for billions of years through similar genetic mechanisms. Together, these pollutants create hotspots where dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria can develop and spread.

2025 Frontiers in Microbiology 39 citations
Article Tier 2

The occurence of pharmaceuticals and other micropollutants in wastewater treatment plant in the aspect of interaction with microplastics

Researchers analysed the occurrence of antibiotics, virucidal, and fungicidal pharmaceuticals in raw and treated sewage at a wastewater treatment plant in southern Poland, examining their removal efficiency and potential interactions with microplastics present in the effluent. The study found that pharmaceutical micropollutants persisted through treatment to varying degrees, raising concerns about combined contamination pathways when microplastics act as co-vectors for these compounds.

2024 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Contribution of microplastic particles to the spread of resistances and pathogenic bacteria in treated wastewaters

Researchers studied microplastic particles collected from treated wastewater effluents and found that MPs harbored significantly higher loads of antibiotic resistance genes and pathogenic bacteria compared to surrounding water, suggesting MPs facilitate their environmental spread.

2021 Water Research 140 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of wastewater treatment plant effluent discharge on the antibiotic resistome in downstream aquatic environments: a mini review

This review summarizes how wastewater treatment plants release antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes into rivers and lakes through their treated water. Current treatment processes cannot fully remove these resistance factors, allowing them to spread in downstream water bodies and potentially reach humans through drinking water and the food chain. The review is relevant to microplastics research because microplastics in wastewater can serve as surfaces where resistant bacteria grow and spread.

2023 Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Responses of bacterial communities and resistance genes on microplastics to antibiotics and heavy metals in sewage environment

Polyvinyl chloride microplastics in sewage enriched pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes on their surfaces, and the presence of heavy metals and antibiotics altered but did not eliminate this enrichment over time. The findings suggest microplastics in wastewater environments could facilitate the spread of antibiotic resistance through the microbial community.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 179 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics shape microbial interactions and affect the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in different full-scale wastewater treatment plants

A study of three full-scale wastewater treatment plants found that microplastics were associated with increased spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), with microplastic surfaces appearing to facilitate microbial interactions that promote ARG transfer. This is a significant public health concern because wastewater plants that fail to fully remove microplastics may also be inadvertently accelerating the dissemination of antibiotic resistance into receiving waterways.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Antibiotic resistance genes, antibiotic residues, and microplastics in influent and effluent wastewater from treatment plants in Norway, Iceland, and Finland

Researchers analyzed antibiotic resistance genes, antibiotic residues, and microplastics in wastewater from treatment plants in Norway, Iceland, and Finland. They found that many resistance genes were carried on mobile DNA elements that can spread between bacteria, and that polyethylene microplastics were the dominant plastic type present. The study shows that even in countries with advanced wastewater treatment, microplastics and antibiotic resistance genes can persist and be released into the environment.

2025 Environmental Research 5 citations
Article Tier 2

The Role of Wastewater Treatment Plants in Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance: Source, Measurement, Removal and Risk Assessment

This review examines how wastewater treatment plants handle antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their resistance genes, finding that current treatment processes do not fully remove them. Different levels of treatment show varying removal rates, and resistant bacteria can still be found in treated water released into the environment. While not directly about microplastics, the findings are relevant because microplastics in wastewater can carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria into waterways.

2024 Antibiotics 34 citations
Article Tier 2

The Complex Interplay Between Antibiotic Resistance and Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in the Environment

This review explores the complex relationship between antibiotic-resistant bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes, and environmental contaminants including pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Researchers found that antibiotic resistance is often elevated in human-impacted environments, particularly where faecal waste and chemical contaminant mixtures are present. The study highlights how environmental pollution, including microplastic contamination, may contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance through horizontal gene transfer and bacterial adaptation.

2022 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Absence of synergistic effects between microplastics and copper ions on the spread of antibiotic resistance genes within aquatic bacteria at the community level

Researchers examined whether microplastics and copper ions act synergistically to spread antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) within aquatic bacterial communities in natural environments. At the community level, no significant synergistic effect was observed, suggesting that combined microplastic and copper contamination does not amplify ARG dissemination beyond the individual effects of each stressor.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of polyvinylchloride microplastics on the toxicity of nanoparticles and antibiotics to aerobic granular sludge: Nitrogen removal, microbial community and resistance genes

Researchers examined how PVC microplastics affect wastewater treatment systems that also contain copper oxide nanoparticles and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. They found that low concentrations of microplastics actually reduced some toxic effects of the other pollutants, but higher concentrations worsened nitrogen removal efficiency and increased antibiotic resistance genes. The study highlights the complex ways microplastics can alter the behavior of other contaminants in water treatment.

2023 Environmental Research 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of microplastics and their interaction with antibiotics in wastewater

Researchers characterized microplastics in wastewater and investigated their interactions with antibiotics, examining how microplastic surfaces adsorb antibiotic compounds and the implications for antibiotic transport and dissemination in wastewater treatment systems.

2025 e_Buah
Article Tier 2

Fragmented Microplastics Synergize with Biological Treatment To Potentiate Antibiotic Resistance Dissemination during Sewage Treatment

Researchers used metagenomic sequencing and high-throughput qPCR across a full sewage treatment chain to show that fragmented microplastics preferentially concentrate clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes, with MP-bound genes contributing up to 43% of intracellular resistance genes detected in treated effluent, and Acinetobacter emerging as a key resistance indicator.

2026 Environmental Science & Technology
Article Tier 2

Insight into combined pollution of antibiotics and microplastics in aquatic and soil environment: Environmental behavior, interaction mechanism and associated impact of resistant genes

This review examines the combined pollution created when microplastics absorb antibiotics in water and soil environments. Researchers found that microplastics can concentrate antibiotics on their surfaces, and this combination promotes the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes in microbial communities. The study highlights that the interaction between these two emerging pollutants may pose greater environmental and health risks than either one alone.

2023 TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 69 citations
Article Tier 2

Growth and prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in microplastic biofilm from wastewater treatment plant effluents

Researchers studied antibiotic-resistant bacteria growing in biofilms on microplastic surfaces in wastewater treatment plant effluent. The study found that microplastic biofilms accumulated antibiotic-resistant bacteria including Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, and Bacillus, and that these biofilms harbored higher concentrations of resistance genes compared to surrounding water, suggesting microplastics may serve as reservoirs for antibiotic resistance.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 51 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of coexistence of tetracycline, copper and microplastics on the fate of antibiotic resistance genes in manured soil

Researchers investigated how the co-presence of tetracycline, copper, and microplastics in manured agricultural soil affects antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) abundance, finding that microplastics amplified ARG spread when combined with the other stressors.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 98 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of polyvinyl chloride microplastics and benzylalkyldimethylethyl compounds on system performance, microbial community and resistance genes in sulfur autotrophic denitrification system

Researchers found that PVC microplastics and a common disinfectant chemical in wastewater treatment systems promoted the spread of antibiotic resistance genes, with the disinfectant having an even stronger effect than the microplastics. The microplastic surfaces harbored disease-causing bacteria that carried these resistance genes. This is concerning because wastewater treatment plants could be releasing both microplastics and antibiotic-resistant pathogens into waterways, potentially threatening human health.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 12 citations