Effect of solar radiation on multidrug resistant E. coli strains and antibiotic mixture photodegradation in wastewater polluted stream

The effect of solar radiation on the inactivation of multidrug resistant Escherichia coli (MDR) strains selected from an urban wastewater treatment plant (UWWTP) effluent and the change of their resistance to a mixture of three antibiotics (evaluated in terms of minimum inhibit concentration (MIC)) in wastewater polluted stream were investigated. The solar photodegradation of the mixture of the three target antibiotics (amoxicillin (AMX), ciprofloxacin (CPX), and sulfamethoxazole (SMZ)) was also evaluated. Additionally, since UWWTP effluents are possible sources of antibiotics and antibiotic resistant bacteria, the disinfection by conventional chlorination process of the UWWTP effluent inoculated with MDR strains was investigated too. Solar radiation poorly affected the inactivation of the two selected antibiotic resistant E. coli strains (40 and 60% after 180 min irradiation). Moreover, solar radiation did not affect strain resistance to AMX (MIC > 256 μg/mL) and SMZ (MIC > 1024 μg/mL), but affected resistance of the lower resistance strain to CPX (MIC decreased by 33% but only after 180 min of irradiation). Chlorination of wastewater sample strongly decreased the number of the two selected antibiotic resistant E. coli strains (99.667 and 99.999%), after 60 min of contact time at 2.0 mg/L initial chlorine concentration, but the resistance of survived colonies to antibiotics was unchanged. Finally, the solar photodegradation rate of the antibiotic mixture (1 mg/L initial concentration respectively) resulted in the following order (half-life time): CPX (t1/2 = 24 min) < AMX (t1/2 = 99 min) < SMZ (t1/2 = 577 min). Accordingly, the risk of the development of resistance to SMZ in surface water is significantly higher compared to CPX and AMX.