Metagenomic surveillance of wastewater reveals how mass gatherings might speed up the unfold of antimicrobial resistance, a rising international menace to efficient infectious illness therapy. Credit score: 2025 KAUST.
Mass gatherings, resembling main sports activities occasions and festivals, carry collectively folks from totally different areas and nations. One related threat of such giant gatherings is the potential unfold of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a rising menace that undermines the effectiveness of therapies for infectious illnesses.
Nevertheless, it’s a menace exhausting to evaluate as a result of lack of an appropriate baseline. The COVID-19 pandemic border closures offered a chance to ascertain a baseline degree for antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and present the impression of mass gatherings as soon as journey resumed.
A examine, led by Changzhi Wang, a Ph.D. scholar in Pei-Ying Hong’s group at KAUST, signifies that mass gatherings contribute to the unfold of particular ARGs into native wastewater programs. The work is printed within the journal Nature Water.
The presence of ARGs in wastewater is a possible explanation for concern in Saudi Arabia. In its many rural areas, wastewater is collected in septic tanks that could be leaking into the encircling atmosphere, quite than being handled in centralized amenities.
The researchers sampled wastewater from 4 wastewater therapy crops that often obtained untreated sewage from mass gatherings, in addition to the local people. Additionally they obtained sewage samples from a management plant that doesn’t obtain any wastewater from mass gatherings. Sampling was carried out between July 2020 and August 2022, after borders have been reopened.
Utilizing metagenomic evaluation, the researchers investigated the relative abundance of ARGs, specializing in these conferring resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, particularly metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL).
“We observed MBL/ESBL families in specific periods that were associated with mass gatherings,” says Wang.
“This is represented by a corresponding increase in the number of meropenem and ceftazidime-resistant colonies recovered from the sewage in the four treatment plants after the mass gatherings in 2022,” he explains.
Presence of blaPER in Shewanella isolates obtained from the totally different sewage samples. Credit score: Nature Water (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00446-3
In distinction, on the management plant, the researchers couldn’t isolate any of those meropenem or ceftazidime-resistant colonies.
“We also detected a beta-lactamase gene (blaPER) in pathogenic bacteria during the peak period of mass gatherings, which reinforces the evidence that these gatherings could introduce new antimicrobial resistance genes to the local community,” Wang concludes.
Their findings have implications for monitoring AMR. They recommend that relying solely on the relative abundance of whole ARGs might overlook key human-driven adjustments in resistance patterns.
The researchers conclude that adopting metagenomics as a surveillance method, mixed with bioinformatic evaluation of particular ARGs, might extra successfully reveal how mass gatherings contribute to the unfold of AMR.
Hong believes the insights are essential for informing public well being methods to make sure higher preparedness and response to the unfold of AMR throughout mass occasions.
“Based on our findings, wastewater/water surveillance could be an appropriate tool to monitor for a broad spectrum of microbial targets,” she says. “The findings highlight the risk posed by untreated wastewater and suboptimal wastewater treatment infrastructure.”
Hong explains that the examine additionally highlighted the necessity for integration of omics-based approaches with cultivation-based monitoring strategies to extra successfully assess and mitigate AMR dangers.
“These insights are crucial for informing public health strategies and interventions, ensuring better preparedness and response to the spread of antimicrobial resistance during mass gatherings,” she concludes.
Extra info:
Changzhi Wang et al, Wastewater surveillance unveils the impression of mass gatherings on antimicrobial resistance after the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia, Nature Water (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00446-3
Offered by
King Abdullah College of Science and Know-how
Quotation:
Wastewater surveillance tracks unfold of antibiotic resistance from mass gatherings (2025, September 2)
retrieved 2 September 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-09-wastewater-surveillance-tracks-antibiotic-resistance.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any truthful dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for info functions solely.
