Hospital discharges in urban sanitation systems: Long-term monitoring of wastewater resistome and microbiota in relationship to their eco-exposome

Abstract

Wastewaters (WW) are important sources for the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) into the environment. Hospital WW (HWW) contain higher loads of micro-pollutants and AMR markers than urban WW (UWW). Little is known about the long-term dynamics of H and U WW and the impact of their joined treatment on the general burden of AMR. Here, we characterized the resistome, microbiota and eco-exposome signature of 126 H and U WW samples treated separately for three years, and then mixed, over one year. Multi-variate analysis and machine learning revealed a robust signature for each WW with no significant variation over time before mixing, and once mixed, both WW closely resembled Urban signatures. We demonstrated a significant impact of pharmaceuticals and surfactants on the resistome and microbiota of H and U WW. Our results present considerable targets for AMR related risk assessment of WW.