Antibiotic resistance of enterococci and related bacteria in an urban wastewater treatment plant

• Published in: FEMS microbiology ecology 2006-02, Vol.55 (2), p.322-329
• Main Authors: da Silva, Miguel Ferreira, Tiago, Igor, Veríssimo, António, Boaventura, Rui A. R., Nunes, Olga C., Manaia, Célia M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Bacteria; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Ciprofloxacin; DNA Fingerprinting; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Ecological monitoring; Ecology; enterococci; Enterococcus - drug effects; Enterococcus - isolation & purification; Erythromycin; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Industrial effluents; Industrial Waste; Industrial wastewater; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Phenotypes; Positive selection; Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; Raw wastewater; Sewage; Vancomycin; Vancomycin Resistance; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Wastewater treatment; Wastewater treatment plants; Water Microbiology; Water treatment
• ISSN: 0168-6496; 1574-6941
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2005.00032.x

Abstract The main objective of this work was to study the ecology of enterococci and related bacteria in raw and treated wastewater from a treatment plant receiving domestic and pretreated industrial effluents in order to assess the influence of treatment on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance phenotypes among this group of bacteria. The predominant species found in the raw wastewater were Entercoccus hirae, Entercoccus faecium and Entercoccus faecalis. Wastewater treatment led to a reduction in E. hirae (α