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Occurrence of Bacterial Markers and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Sub-Saharan Rivers Receiving Animal Farm Wastewaters

Abstract

Antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes which confer resistance to antibiotics from human/animal sources are currently considered a serious environmental and a public health concern. This problem is still little investigated in aquatic environment of developing countries according to the different climatic conditions. In this research, the total bacterial load, the abundance of relevant bacteria (Escherichia coli (E. coli), Enterococcus (Ent), and Pseudomonas), and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs: blaOXA-48, blaCTX-M, sul1, sul2, sul3, and tet(B)) were quantified using Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) in sediments from two rivers receiving animal farming wastewaters under tropical conditions in Kinshasa, capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The most abundant and most commonly detected ARGs were sul1, and sul2. Our findings confirmed at least two sources of contamination originating from pigs and anthropogenic activities. Moreover, our analysis sheds the light on developing countries where less than adequate infrastructure or lack of it adds to the complexity of antibiotic resistance proliferation with potential risks to the human exposure and aquatic living organisms.

Al Salah, D.M.M., Laffite, A., and Pote-Wembonyama, J., 2019, Occurrence of Bacterial Markers and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Sub-Saharan Rivers Receiving Animal Farm Wastewaters: Scientific Reports, v. 9, no. 14847.

22 Oct 2019

News 2019