Non-thermal obliteration of critically ranked carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and its resistance gene in a batch atmospheric plasma reactor.
Thabang B M MosakaJohn Onolame UnuofinMichael O DaramolaChedly TizaouiSamuel A IwarerePublished in: Environmental science and pollution research international (2024)
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been implicated as direct key reservoir of both antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) associated with human infection, as high concentrations of ARBs and ARGs have been detected in recycled hospital wastewater. Among the ARBs, the carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has been ranked as priority 1 (critical) pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO), due to its overwhelming burden on public health. Therefore, this study is aimed at investigating non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology as an alternative disinfection step to inactivate this bacterium and its ARGs. Culture-based method and PCR were employed in confirming the carbapenem resistance gene bla NDM-1 in A. baumannii (BAA 1605). Suspension of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (24 h culture) was prepared from the confirmed isolate and subjected to plasma treatment at varying time intervals (3 min, 6 min, 9 min, 12 min, and 15 min) in triplicates. The plasma-treated samples were evaluated for re-growth and the presence of the resistance gene. The treatment resulted in a 1.13 log reduction after 3 min and the highest log reduction of ≥ 8 after 15 min, and the results also showed that NTP was able to inactivate the bla NDM-1 gene. The log reduction and gel image results suggest that plasma disinfection has a great potential to be an efficient tertiary treatment step for WWTPs.
Keyphrases
- acinetobacter baumannii
- wastewater treatment
- multidrug resistant
- drug resistant
- antibiotic resistance genes
- public health
- klebsiella pneumoniae
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- genome wide
- copy number
- genome wide identification
- drinking water
- endothelial cells
- escherichia coli
- transcription factor
- emergency department
- air pollution
- particulate matter
- gram negative
- risk factors
- microbial community
- risk assessment
- newly diagnosed
- genome wide analysis
- drug induced
- real time pcr