Sydney: Australian-led research suggests that wastewater from aircraft toilets could serve as an early warning system for the global spread of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) superbugs. A statement released Monday by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, said the researchers analysed wastewater from 44 international flights to Australia from nine countries. It added that the researchers detected nine high-priority pathogens and multiple antibiotic resistance genes.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, using advanced molecular techniques, the international team led by CSIRO found a gene for resistance to last-resort antibiotics on 17 flights. However, this gene was absent from Australia’s urban wastewater, indicating a likely introduction via international travel. The study found five of the pathogens in all flight samples, with geographic variation in resistance levels. Flights from Asia carried higher concentrations of resistance genes compared with those from Europe.
The researchers observed that ‘aircraft wastewater captures microbial signatures from passengers across different continents, offering a non-invasive, cost-effective way to monitor threats like AMR,’ said senior author Warish Ahmed, a principal research scientist from CSIRO. The researchers confirmed that genetic material remained stable in aircraft toilet disinfectants for up to 24 hours, underlining the reliability of the method for surveillance.
AMR is expected to cause more than 39 million deaths globally by 2050, surpassing cancer, the authors said. The authors added that the study suggested aircraft wastewater monitoring could offer early warnings of superbug threats, similar to COVID-19 wastewater testing. The research, detailed in Microbiology Spectrum published by the American Society for Microbiology, was conducted in partnership with Xiamen University in China. The University of South Australia and Michigan Technological University in the United States also took part.