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A Potential Association Between Antibiotic Abuse and Existence of Related Resistance Genes in Different Aquatic Environments

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Abstract

Bacterial antibiotic resistance has long been a public health concern worldwide. Although antibiotic abuse highly correlates with occurrence of resistant pathogens in hot spots like animal feedlots, it remains obscure how frequently these resistance genotypes would emerge and/or retain in natural circumstances. In this study, we monitored seven antibiotic resistance genes in various surface waters. All seven resistance genes were detectable in Puzih River samples, including strA (40.6 %), cmlA (29.7 %), blaTEM (9.1 %), tet(B) (8.5 %), sul1 (7.9 %), mecA (3.6 %), and tet(A) (2.4 %). Among these genes, strA was observed in four out of five sampling occasions during the 1.5-year monitoring period and most of the genes were detected at least two times over five samplings. These results imply that surface waters in Taiwan act as potential reservoirs for several resistance genotypes. Moreover, high prevalence of tet(A) (92.0 %) and sul1 (96.0 %) in swine farm wastewater samples suggests routine antibiotic usage and particularly, the fodder supplements could indeed be a risk factor to antibiotic resistance in environments. sul1, tet(A), blaTEM, and strA were detectable in domestic water treatment plants and reservoirs, suggesting that several resistance genotypes against antibiotics as streptomycin, ampicillin, tetracycline, and sulfonamides are likely to persist in natural circumstance and may consequently contaminate the drinking water systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Tungs’ Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital, Taichung 435, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Chao-Yu Hsu

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, 168, University Road, Min-Hsiung, Chiayi, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Bing-Mu Hsu, Wen-Tsai Ji, Po-Min Kao, Shao-Feng Tseng, Tsung-Yu Shen & Cheng-Wei Fan

  3. Department of Radiology, Cheng-Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Tien-Yu Chang

  4. Department of Environmental Engineering and Health, Yuanpei University of Science and Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Feng-Cheng Shih

  5. Department of ophthalmology, Cheng-Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Jorn-Hon Liu

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  1. Chao-Yu Hsu
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  2. Bing-Mu Hsu
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  10. Jorn-Hon Liu
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Correspondence to Bing-Mu Hsu.

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Wen-Tsai Ji and Tien-Yu Chang have equal contribution to the first author.

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Hsu, CY., Hsu, BM., Ji, WT. et al. A Potential Association Between Antibiotic Abuse and Existence of Related Resistance Genes in Different Aquatic Environments. Water Air Soil Pollut 226, 2235 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-2235-z

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