Practical Approaches for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Genes in Wastewater Within Developing Countries

Author(s): Sunil Pandey, Jennifer L salerno, Shyam Prakash Dumre

Antibiotic resistance is a significant public health challenge that necessitates a com-prehensive approach to maintain antibiotic effectiveness. In developing countries, in-adequate treatment infrastructure has led to wastewater being a potential source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and genes which give rise to antibiotic resistance, referred to in this paper as antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs). This article reviews cur-rent strategies to address ARGs and ARB in wastewater in developing countries. Our review emphasizes the importance of enhancing wastewater treatment infrastructure to effectively remove ARB and ARGs and reduce their release into the environment. Additionally, it addresses the need for monitoring and surveillance to track the pres-ence and dissemination of ARB and ARGs in wastewater. We also discuss potential ob-stacles and challenges to implementing these approaches and the need for further re-search to assess their real-world effectiveness. Overall, this review underscores the need for a comprehensive strategy to combat ARB and ARGs in wastewater in devel-oping countries to safeguard public health.