EPA-HSE Environment Health and Well Being Annual Conference 2018

1. Stopping Antibiotic
Resistance Evolution (StARE)

2. Potential dissemination of ARB and ARGs
Antibiotic resistance project, Dr. Helmut Bürgmann

3. Human antibiotic consumption in the community

4. DNA extraction
Microbial testing
Chemical analysis
Enumeration of faecal coliforms
and enterococci on AMX, CIP and TET
Identification
of ARGs
Microbiome analysis
Workflow
Plasmid study

5. UWTP
Faecal coliforms counts (log CFU’s/mL) in
final effluent
Enterococci counts (log CFU’s/mL) in
final effluent
AML TET CIP AML TET CIP
PT1 6.22±0.56 5.91±0.43 4.95±0.46 5.12±0.40 5.01±0.56 2.87±0.50 4.32±0.58 3.41±0.38
ES1
4.87±0.62 4.36±0.80 4.10±1.02 4.12±0.63 3.85±0.36 3.45±0.16 2.79±0.34 3.06±0.48
CYP1 3.00±1.71 2.13±0.85 2.11±1.61 2.45±1.62 1.77±1.38 1.29±0.11 1.08±1.59 1.45±1.38
IL1
4.50±0.25 4.10±0.11 3.08±0.39 3.45±0.40 3.17±0.26 ≤ 0.00 2.21±0.13 ≤ 0.00
IL2 4.63±0.36 4.27±0.24 3.14±0.42 3.51±0.47 3.33±0.27 < 0.00 2.35±0.25 ≤ 0.00
DE2
5.05±0.31 4.86±0.24 3.85±0.33 3.72±0.49 4.91±0.31 3.63±0.25 3.86±0.23 4.30±0.18
NO1 ≤ 2.00 ≤ 1.00 ≤ 1.00 ≤ 1.00 3.49±0.60 2.80±0.32 ≤ 0.00 ≤ 0.00
Microbial indicators in WWTP effluent

6. Relative abundance of Resistance Genes

7. Relative abundance of Genetic Recombination
Elements

8. Bacterial relative abundance in Irish WWTP
effluent
03-2015 A 03-2015 B 10-2015 A 10-2015 B 03-2016 A 03-2016 B 09-2016 A09-2016 B

9. Bacterial
clustering in Irish
WWTP effluent

10. Potential
pathogens in
WWTP effluent

11. Plasmid study
• 100 plasmids were extracted
• Most of the extracted plasmids show a multidrug resistance
phenotype.
• 10 multidrug resistance plasmids were characterized by their
resistance profile, replicons and their persistence.

12. Conclusion
• The antibiotic resistant bacteria and resistance genes are present in
WWTP effluent.
• This data should be considered when analysing the risk posed by
WWTP effluent to the environment and to human health.

13. Acknowledgment
• This work has been financed through funding by EPA, in the frame of
the collaborative international consortium of the Water Challenges
for a Changing World Joint Programming Initiative (Water JPI) Pilot
Call, project StARE
• Irish Water provided samples for the study
• ARM lab:
• Dr. Fiona Walsh
• Dr. Sinéad Murphy
• Sarah Delaney
• Ciara Tyrrell
• Aidan O'Flaherty