Dr. 朱利安Damashek examines connection between aging water infrastructures and antibiotic resistance
The research findings further emphasize why it’s crucial for communities to update their sewer and septic systems or risk the health of the very people living there.
Antibiotics are considered by many to be the peak of 20th-century medical innovation, 引入一种控制感染的新方法. 20世纪50年代, 它们被称为“特效药”,医生们的热情, patients and others for a new medicinal option that transformed once fatal bacterial infections into conditions that could be cured.
但世事无常, including bacteria - which evolves and develops mechanisms to protect itself against these otherwise powerful medicines designed to destroy them. This antibiotic resistance makes it harder to fight infections or at times, 使它们完全无法治疗. It can develop from overuse of antibiotic medicines or can be found in one of Earth’s most basic and essential resources - water.
抗生素耐药性是对人类健康的全球性威胁. Many surface water resources are environmental hotspots of antibiotics resistant gene (ARG) transfer, with agricultural runoff and human waste highlighted as common sources of ARGs to aquatic systems, 生物学助理教授尤感兴趣的东西. 朱利安Damashek.
“抗菌素耐药性是一个非常危险和昂贵的问题, 我们希望通过强调潜在的环境污染源, we are able to help politicians and society prioritize where to spend money to prevent this pollution.”
在他的研究中. 达玛谢克和他的同事 measured fecal marker genes and ARGs in 992 stream water samples collected seasonally over the course of five years from 115 sites across the Upper Oconee watershed in the state of Georgia, 以农业和城市发展梯度为特征的地区.
发现了广泛的人类粪便污染, 反刍动物, 和家禽, and 73% of samples tested positive for at least one of the six target ARGs.
而ARGs与人类粪便标志物密切相关, many highly contaminated samples were not associated with sewage outfalls, 粪便和ARG污染的预期来源.
According to their research abstract, in order to determine the sources of contamination, Dr. 达玛谢克和他的同事 synthesized ARG and fecal marker data with geospatial data on land use/land cover and wastewater infrastructure across the watershed. This novel analysis found strong correlations between ARGs and measures of sewer density, 下水道的长度, 样本流域内的化粪池系统老化, indicating non-point sources of fecal contamination from aging wastewater infrastructure can be critical disseminators of anthropogenic ARGs in the environment.
The research findings further emphasize why it’s crucial for communities to update their sewer and septic systems or risk the health of the very people living there.
“在这一点上很难确切地说出来。. Damashek解释说. “But our data suggest in many places it is important to maintain wastewater infrastructure. 如果旧下水道管道或旧化粪池开始泄漏, it appears fecal and ARG contamination can seep into groundwater and eventually into streams and rivers nearby. So in places like central New York that have quite old sewage infrastructure, it is probably quite important to prioritize regular upgrades and maintenance of this infrastructure to prevent contamination.”
And while the initial research was conducted in the Upper Oconee watershed, 它不仅为该地区提供了洞察力, but in how ARG spreads in different types of environments and infrastructures as well.
“The main geographic differences seem to be related to population development. Pollution sources are quite different between urban, suburban, and rural areas. Clearly any differences in sewage infrastructure between locations would also be important too.”
尤蒂卡的学生们有机会亲自动手, 可以这么说, 作为博士后续研究的一部分. Damashek.
“One project is using publicly available DNA sequence data to look at fecal pollution and ARGs in San Francisco Bay and the Gowanus Canal. Nicole Pickett(21届)参与了这项工作的早期阶段, and Trinity Hamilton (Hampton University '22) was also involved - Trinity was a summer student funded to work with me through the National Summer Undergraduate 研究 Project (NSURP) in summer 2021.”
他们的数据是海报展示的一部分. 达马什克在尤蒂卡综合医疗会议上说.
“I am also doing some field-based projects looking at similar dynamics in the Mohawk River and its tributaries around Utica. Matthew Fedullo ('21) and Brieann Lohmann ('23) have both been involved with collecting field samples for this work.”
随着研究的继续. 达玛谢克和他的同事 hope that their efforts can not only offer insight, 但是希望改变, 即使这并不容易. The fact that ARGs stem from non-point sources create additional challenges in combating their spread.
“It unfortunately makes it more difficult and expensive to prevent their spread in the environment. If all ARGs were coming from a single point source like one sewage treatment plant, focused efforts to upgrade that source would largely take care of the problem. The importance of non-point sources means upgrades and maintenance to entire sewer systems or dozens to hundreds of septic systems may be necessary.”
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