Researchers from the Faculty of Geoengineering of the University of Warmia and Mazury (UWM) in Olsztyn are studying the growing level of antibiotic resistance and the potential impact on this phenomenon of insufficient disinfection of hospital wastewater.

In hospitals, up to a third of patients receive antibiotics daily, so hospital wastewater is considered one of the major routes for the spread of antibiotic resistance genes.

“Research conducted at the Department of Water Protection Engineering and Environmental Microbiology at UWM is in line with the latest European action plans to combat antimicrobial resistance”, says Damian Rolbiecki, the project manager.

For the purposes of the project, scientists have already taken samples (under different conditions, in each of the four seasons), and are now starting molecular studies that will allow the analysis of genetic material present in hospital wastewater, i.e. to learn about various bacterial species present in them, their resistance to disinfectants and antibiotics and assigning appropriate resistance systems to specific species of bacteria.