Analyses of water and sediments in the river downstream from two hospitals in Kinshasa revealed pathogens in significant quantities. | Image: iStock

Antibiotic resistance is a major problem, especially in tropical developing countries where the climate favours the exchange of resistance genes between bacteria. A study by the universities of Geneva and Kinshasa has now shown that hospitals are a dangerous source for the spread of resistance in Central Africa.

The researchers analysed water and sediment samples taken from rivers in Kinshasa into which two hospitals discharge untreated wastewater. Upstream of the hospitals the water was clean, but downstream the samples contained significant amounts of pathogenic bacteria and resistance genes, including some against antibiotics of last resort. The study leader John Poté is urging hospitals in tropical countries to treat their wastewater: “Even a localised epidemic could go global by spreading across borders”.

D. Al Salah et al.: Hospital wastewaters: A reservoir and source of clinically relevant bacteria and antibiotic resistant genes dissemination in urban river under tropical conditions. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (2020)