This work compares the prevalence of antibiotic resistant coliform bacteria in hospital wastewater effluents in Slovak (SR) and Czech Republic (ČR). It also describes selected antibiotic resistant isolates in view of resistance mechanism and virulence factor. The highest number of multidrug resistant bacteria was detected in samples from the hospital in Valašské Meziříčí (ČR). More than half of resistant isolates showed multidrug resistance phenotype as well as strong ability to form biofilm. In 42% of isolates efflux pump overproduction was detected together with tetA and tetE genes. The production of extended-spectrum β-lactamases in coliform isolates was encoded mainly by blaTEM, blaCTX-M-2 and blaCTX-M-8/25 genes. About 62% of resistants contained a combination of two or more extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) genes. Our results strengthen the fact that hospital effluents are a source of multidrug resistant bacteria which can spread their resistance genes to other bacteria in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Accordingly, hospital wastewater should be better treated before it enters urban sewerage.

Department of Environmental Engineering Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology Slovak University of Technology Radlinského 9 81237 Bratislava Slovakia

Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology Department of Nutrition and Food Quality Assessment Slovak University of Technology Radlinského 9 81237 Bratislava Slovakia

Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology Institute of Biochemistry and Microbiology Slovak University of Technology Radlinského 9 81237 Bratislava Slovakia

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Resistant Genes and Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria in Wastewater: A Study of Their Transfer to the Water Reservoir in the Czech Republic

Hospital Wastewater-Source of Specific Micropollutants, Antibiotic-Resistant Microorganisms, Viruses, and Their Elimination