Antibiotics (Nov 2023)

Antibiotic Resistance in Metal-Tolerant Microorganisms from Treatment Facilities

  • Leonid Perelomov,
  • Olga Sizova,
  • Maria Gertsen,
  • Irina Perelomova,
  • Vyacheslav Arlyapov,
  • Yury Atroshchenko

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12121678
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 12
p. 1678

Abstract

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The study examines the antibiotic resistance of metal-tolerant bacteria isolated from the wastewater treatment plant of a large city to six antibiotics belonging to the β-lactam antibiotics, aminoglycosides and amphenicols. Resistance of bacteria from sewage sludge multitolerant to heavy metals to 18 antibiotics of the β-lactam antibiotics, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides, diaminopyrimidines, amphenicols and ansamycins was studied also. Out of 10, the metal-tolerant microorganisms isolated from wastewater treatment facilities only the Klebsiella pneumonia strain (tolerant to 3 mM Cu) from the sludge of a secondary settling tank did not show resistance to the studied antibiotics at the concentrations considered. Resistance to the maximum amount of antibiotics was typical for strains Serratia fonticola SS0-1, isolated from fresh sewage sludge and resistant to 5 mmol Cu and 3 mmol Pb, or Stenotrophomonas maltophilia SS0-5, also isolated from fresh sludge and resistant to 3 mmol Zn and Cu. It is possible that bacterial resistance to antibiotics develops not only as a result of the use of antibiotics themselves, but also as a result of environmental pollution with heavy metals, and vice versa.

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