Antibiotics and other chemicals that select for antimicrobial resistance in the environment

Antimicrobials are commonly used agents for the purpose of disease treatment and prevention. They revolutionized modern medicine and to this day are integral for how we treat disease both in humans and animals. However, their overuse and misuse combined with a lack of new antibiotics have posed antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which means that previously treatable diseases are becoming increasingly difficult and, in some cases, impossible to treat. AMR is an internationally recognized global crisis. In fact, by 2050 it is estimated that there will be 10 million deaths per annum from AMR and cost the global economy US$100 trillion. Nowadays, antimicrobials and AMR have become ubiquitous among organisms and the environment, especially the aquatic environment, causing severe health, environmental and ecological risks. In response, places such as Australia have implemented measures to reduce overuse and misuse of antimicrobials in addition to collecting data from acute and community healthcare settings. Despite this, there is still a lack of data on the use of antimicrobials in the general population and how the released antimicrobials influence the aquatic environment. Wastewater analysis has emerged as a potential surveillance tool for estimating antimicrobial use in the general population and their environmental monitoring. This work aims to give a comprehensive insight in the antimicrobial occurrence, behaviors, removal, and emission throughout the wastewater systems in Australia and to identify the potential socioeconomic drivers.

Please note this is a PhD student progress review presentation by Jinglong Li.