Inactivation of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms by physical plasma

Wastewater treatment plants are “hotspots” for the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms (ARM).1 General treatment methods only insuffiently reduce the load.2 Conversely, physical plasma methods have proven to be promising to inactivate microorganisms.3 Different plasma sources were tested according to their efficacy to inactivate ARM. Synthetic wastewater containing Escherichia coli GW-AmxH19 (isolate from hospital wastewater, Greifswald, Germany)4 was treated with the respective plasma source for 30min. The viable count was determined before and after plasma treatment. In dependence of the source a reduction of the viable count of 1-7 log 10 was achieved. Thus, physical plasma can be utilized as additional treatment stage in wastewater remediation and may also support the effort of “one health”. 1Rizzo, L.; Manaia, C.; Merlin, C.; Schwartz, T.; Dagot, C.; Ploy, M. C.; Michael, I.; Fatta-Kassinos, D. Science of the Total Environment 2013, 447, 345-360. 2Prado, T.; Pereira, W. C.; Silva, D. M.; Seki, L. M.; Carvalho, A. P. D.; Asensi, M. D. Letters in Applied Microbiology 2008, 46 (1), 136-141. 3Hahn, V.; Dikyol, C.; Altrock, B.; Schmidt, M.; Wende, K.; Ercan, U. K.; Weltmann, K. D.; von Woedtke, T. Plasma Processes and Polymers 2019, 16 (5). 4Schneider, D.; Zühlke, D.; Petscheleit, T.; Poehlein, A.; Riedel, K.; Daniel, R. Germany. Microbiology Resource Announcements 2020, 9 (21), e00279-20 (2pp).