Waste water and waste water treatment plants can act as reservoirs and environmental suppliers of antibiotic resistance. They have also been proposed to be hotspots for horizontal gene transfer, enabling the spread of antibiotic resistance genes between different bacterial species. Waste water contains antibiotics, disinfectants, and metals which can form a selection pressure for antibiotic resistance, even in low concentrations. Our knowledge of antibiotic resistance in waste water has increased tremendously in the past few years with advances in the molecular methods available. However, there are still some gaps in our knowledge on the subject, such as how active is horizontal gene transfer in waste water and what is the role of the waste water treatment plant in the environmental resistome? The purpose of this review is to briefly describe some of the main methods for studying antibiotic resistance in waste waters and the latest research and main knowledge gaps on the issue. In addition, some future research directions are proposed.

废水和废水处理厂可以充当抗药性的水库和环境供应商。还已经提出它们是水平基因转移的热点，使抗生素抗性基因能够在不同细菌种类之间传播。废水中含有抗生素，消毒剂和金属，即使在低浓度下，它们也可能形成对抗生素耐药性的选择压力。在过去的几年中，随着可用分子方法的发展，我们对废水中抗生素耐药性的了解已大大增加。但是，我们对此主题的知识仍然存在一些差距，例如废水中水平基因转移的活跃程度，以及废水处理厂在环境电阻图中的作用是什么？这篇综述的目的是简要介绍一些研究废水中抗生素抗性的主要方法，以及有关该问题的最新研究和主要知识空白。另外，提出了一些未来的研究方向。