New research links water source type to antibiotic resistance

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20261012/New-research-links-water-source-type-to-antibiotic-resistance.aspx Aquatic environments are recognized as reservoirs and pathways for antimicrobial resistance, receiving antibiotic residues and resistant microorganisms from sewage, livestock farming, and aquaculture. Previous studies have detected resistance genes in drinking water sources and shown that conventional treatment may remove them incompletely. However, monitoring often focuses on individual pollutants or limited locations, leaving the relationships between antibiotic contamination, resistance genes, and bacterial resistance poorly understood. Rivers, enclosed reservoirs, and open lakes also differ in pollution exposure and water movement. In the Poyang Lake basin, which supplies drinking water sources for approximately 45 million people, a comprehensive comparison was needed to identify priority locations and factors associated with resistance.