Antibiotic resistant bacteria-associated infections are responsible for more than 1.2 million annual deaths worldwide. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the consumption of antibiotics for human and veterinary uses is not regulated effectively. Overused and misused antibiotics can end up in aquatic environments, which may act as a conduit for antibiotic resistance dissemination. However, data on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance determinants in aquatic environments are still limited for LMICs. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence and concentration of antibiotic resistance genes in different drinking and environmental water sources collected from the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal using droplet digital PCR to understand the current situation of ARG contamination. River water and shallow dug well water were the most contaminated with ARGs. Almost all samples contained sul1 (95%), and intI1 and tet(A) were detected in 83% and 60% of the samples, respectively. Maximum ARG co
Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to human and animal medicine1–3. As resistance emerges, the number of available and effective treatment .
Sludge from wastewater treatment plants can act as a repository and crucial environmental provider of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Over the past few years, people's knowledge regarding the occurrence and removal of ARGs in sludge has broadened remarkably with advancements in molecular biological techniques. Anaerobic and aerobic digestion were found to effectively achieve sludge reduction and ARGs removal. This review summarized advanced detection and removal techniques of ARGs, in the last decade, in the sludge digestion field. The fate of ARGs due to different sludge digestion strategies (i.e., anaerobic and aerobic digestion under mesophilic or thermophilic conditions, and in combination with relevant pretreatment technologies (e.g., thermal hydrolysis pretreatment, microwave pretreatment and alkaline pretreatment) and additives (e.g., ferric chloride and zero-valent iron) were systematically summarized and compared in this review. To date, this is the first review that