Discarded masks as hotspots of antibiotic resistance genes during COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: The demand for facial masks remains high. However, little is known about discarded masks as a potential refuge for contaminants and to facilitate enrichment and spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) in the environment. We address this issue by conducting an in-situ time-series experiment to investigate the dynamic changes of ARGs, bacteria and protozoa associated with discarded masks. Masks were incubated in an estuary for 30 days. The relative abundance of ARGs in masks increased after day 7 but levelled off after 14 days. The absolute abundance of ARGs at 30 days was 1.29 × 10¹² and 1.07 × 10¹² copies for carbon and surgical masks, respectively. According to normalized stochasticity ratio analysis, the assembly of bacterial and protistan communities was determ

SUBMITTER: Zhou SY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8659516 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature