Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Hospital Wastewaters and Sewage Treatment Plants

TL;DRAbstract

We investigated the presence and survival of antibiotic resistant bacteria in untreated hospital wastewaters (UHWW) and their transmission to the receiving sewage treatment plant (STP) in South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. Over eight weeks of sampling, 245 Escherichia coli and 167 Staphylococcus aureus strains were collected from UHWW and its receiving STP inlet (STP-I) and post-treatment outlet (STP-O). These strains were typed using the PhP typing method and random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR). Among E .coli strains collected from UHWW, seven common (C) PhP-RAPD types were frequently found in a majority of weekly samples with multi-drug resistant (MDR) C-types also found in STP-I and on three occasions in STP-O. Similarly among S. aureus strains, seven C- types were frequently found in a majority of samples with two MDR C-types also found in STP-I and on two occasions in STP-O. Our data suggest that some MDR bacterial strains found in UHWW may h

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