SAMRC Microbial Water Quality Monitoring Centre, University of Fort Hare, South Africa; Applied and Environmental Microbiology Research Group (AEMREG), University of Fort Hare, South Africa.
J Environ Manage. 2020 Dec 1;275:111234. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111234. Epub 2020 Aug 28.
Effective and efficient utilization of antimicrobial drugs has been one of the important cornerstone of modern medicine. However, since antibiotics were first discovered by Alexander Fleming about a century ago, the time clock of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) started ticking somewhat leading to a global fear of a possible "post-antimicrobial era". Antibiotic resistance (AR) remains a serious challenge causing global outcry in both the clinical setting and the environment. The huge influence of municipal wastewater effluent discharges on the aquatic environment has made the niche a hotspot of research interest in the study of emergence and spread of AMR microbes and their resistance determinants/genes. The current review adopted a holistic approach in studying the proliferation of antibiotic resistance determinants (ARDs) as well as their impacts and fate in municipal wastewater effluents and the receiving aquatic environments. The various strategies deployed hitherto for the removal of resistance determinants in municipal effluents were carefully reviewed, while the potential for the use of nanotechnology as a viable alternative is explicitly explored. Also, highlighted in this review are the knowledge gaps to be filled in order to curtail the spread of AMR in aquatic environment and lastly, suggestions on the applicability of nanotechnology in eliminating AMR determinants in municipal wastewater treatment facilities are proffered.
有效且高效地利用抗菌药物一直是现代医学的重要基石之一。然而，自从一个世纪前亚历山大·弗莱明首次发现抗生素以来，抗菌药物耐药性（AMR）的时钟就开始滴答作响，导致人们对可能出现的“后抗生素时代”产生了全球性的担忧。抗生素耐药性（AR）仍然是一个严峻的挑战，无论是在临床环境还是在环境中，都引起了全球的强烈关注。城市废水排放对水生态环境的巨大影响，使得这一领域成为研究 AMR 微生物及其耐药决定因素/基因的出现和传播的热点。本综述采用整体方法研究了抗生素耐药决定因素（ARDs）在城市废水中的增殖及其在城市废水中的影响和归宿。仔细审查了迄今为止为去除城市废水中的耐药决定因素而部署的各种策略，同时明确探讨了将纳米技术用作可行替代方案的潜力。此外，本综述还强调了为遏制 AMR 在水生态环境中的传播而需要填补的知识空白，并就纳米技术在消除城市污水处理厂中的 AMR 决定因素的适用性提出了建议。
