Removing Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (ARB) Carrying Genes (ARGs): Challenges and Future Trends
Djamel Ghernaout, Noureddine Elboughdiri
Abstract
Developed control of chemical disinfection techniques is beginning to be progressively significant in order to equilibrate under-treatment (minimal pathogen demobilization) and over-treatment (immoderate consumption of disinfectant and disinfection by-products generation) that way giving great ecological and economic advantages. This work reviews the most recent and pertinent researches in this field of eliminating Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria (ARB) carrying genes (ARGs) during wastewater treatment especially disinfection. Traditional disinfection techniques may not be efficient in demobilizing ARB and the simultaneous liberation of ARB and antibiotics at sub-lethal concentrations into municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent may promote the development of resistance among bacteria in receiving water. The pathway of the influences of diverse disinfection techniques in water and wastewater (chlorination, UV irradiation, Fenton reaction, ozonation, and photocatalytic oxidation) deserves more attention. The impacts of constructed wetlands and nanotechnology on ARB and ARG have to be more explored. As the best available technology, membranes processes should be widely adopted through the world for removing ARB and ARGs from the perspective of reusing treated wastewater as drinking water. These safe barriers against pollutants diffusion in nature merit more technical and economic expansion for their larger industrial application especially in developing countries.