Wastewater Treatment plants as a trusted Source of Timely information on antimicrobial resistance threat (TruSTme)

This project aims to explore Wastewater Treatment plants (WWTPs) as a trusted source of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) information to strengthen societal security and trust in Nordic countries. It explores wastewater as a source of crisis information about precursor events, and outbreaks of super bugs.

Objectives

The overall objective of the project is to demonstrate WWTPs as a unique, trusted source of information on AMR threat and demonstrate routine molecular-based methods that can be used as a surveillance tool at a regional level.

The detailed objectives are:

Establish a knowledge base summarizing the development and implementation status of AMR surveillance systems in clinical settings and the utilization potential of the existing wastewater-based monitoring systems in the Nordic countries.
Develop a toolbox for real-time monitoring of wastewater treatment plants (at the inlet and outlet wastewater), to increase the speed of information exchange and expand the geographic coverage of surveillance systems including distant localities.

Implementation

The study will consist of two main components. The first part will involve a comprehensive review of existing facilities and literature, while the second part will focus on monitoring antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at two to three wastewater treatment plants located in Nordic countries.

In the laboratory analysis phase, antibiotic-resistance genes, microplastics and antibiotic residues will be closely examined. Specifically, THL will take charge of monitoring antibiotic resistance genes in the wastewater.