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Comparison Of Antibiotic Resistance In Biofilm, Sediment, And Planktonic Communities Of The James River, Mary Bernadette Coughter

Theses and Dissertations

Antibiotic resistance spread within aquatic bacterial communities, particularly ones in urban areas, is in part driven by wastewater inflows that may contain both elevated concentrations of antibiotics and increased abundance of antibiotic resistant bacteria. These can be transmitted into the environment via release of treated wastewater, since removal of these compounds by most wastewater treatment facilities is inadequate, or by release of untreated waste from leaking wastewater treatment networks and overflow of combined sewer systems. This study used the James River and the City of Richmond wastewater network as a model urban waterway to study both types of impacts. Shotgun …