Unit-specific fate and ecological drivers of antibiotic resistome in a full-scale swine wastewater treatment system.

Anaerobic digestion in swine wastewater treatment removes 70.9% of antibiotic resistance genes, significantly reducing environmental risk in a full-scale system.

• Why it matters: Antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater pose a threat to public health and environmental safety, yet the specific treatment processes and units responsible for their removal are not fully understood.
• What they did: The study monitored a full-scale swine wastewater treatment system serving 20,000 pigs, quantifying ARG removal and analyzing the roles of different units, especially anaerobic digestion, aerobic, and sedimentation processes.
• The result: Findings show anaerobic digestion as the primary ARG sink, reducing resistome risk by over 50%, while aerobic units can promote ARG rebound, highlighting the importance of targeted treatment strategies to mitigate environmental and health risks.