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Five 'high-priority' pathogens discovered entering Australia via airplane toilets
Five high-priority pathogens and superbugs have entered Australia on international flights, an investigation of wastewater in airplane toilets has revealed. The new research, led by the national science agency, CSIRO, confirms that air travel is a key pathway for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria to enter the country.
Working with an international team of university scientists, the researchers found superbugs in every one of the 44 samples. Close to a third tested positive for a gene with resistance to last resort antibiotics that had not previously been found in Australia.
Dr Warish Ahmed, a principal research scientist at CSIRO, said the research indicates testing aircraft wastewater could be a significant tool for detecting the spread of new diseases. He said the data collected could be particularly important for protecting vulnerable communities.
'The samples could be delivered to labs, and we could simply run PCR tests, looking for antibiotic-resistant genes and bacteria and offer the results in a couple of days,' he told Yahoo News Australia.
'But it would need the collaboration with airlines, university research institutions and public health units to make it happen.'
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Region with highest concentration of resistant microbes
Eighteen of the samples taken from flights originating in South Asia had a higher concentration of antibiotic-resistant genes than those from Europe.
In many parts of the continent, antibiotics can be purchased over the counter without a prescription, allowing resistance to quickly grow. Other contributors to the variation between parts of Asia and Europe could be water and sanitation, population density, and public health policies, according to lead author Dr Yawen Liu, a visiting scientist at CSIRO from China's Xiamen University.
'By monitoring aircraft wastewater, we can potentially detect and track antibiotic resistance genes before they become established in local environments,' Liu added.
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The study began during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the group's testing of aircraft wastewater has now concluded. They found pathogens were present in wastewater despite the use of strong disinfectants in treatment systems.
The study was a collaboration between CSIRO, Xiamen University, the University of South Australia and Michigan Technological University. It was published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum.
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