The proliferation of antibiotic resistance in water environment which may cause antibiotic therapy failure has attracted worldwide attention. However, the effects of UV-based advanced oxidation processes on inactivation of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and degradation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have not been well studied. This study aimed to comparatively investigate the removal efficacy in inactivating the vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE) and degrading its containing vanB gene under exposure to UV and UV/H₂O₂. The results showed that VRE was readily inactivated in both UV and UV/H₂O₂ processes. Although UV/H₂O₂ was only slightly superior to UV alone in VRE inactivation, it significantly inhibited the bacterial photoactivation and regrowth. UV/H₂O₂ indeed achieved synergistic degradation of intracellular vanB (0.1–0.8 log), which could be further enhanced by increasing the UV intensity, lowering pH and adding H₂O₂ in batches. The enhanced induction of OH resulted in the cell membrane damage, facilitating the entrance of excess OH and more efficiently oxidizing the released intracellular ARGs. Overall, the presence of humic acid inhibited the inactivation of VRE and degradation of vanB, while lower concentrations of humic acid (2.5–5 mg/L) could act as free radical initiator and slightly promoted vanB degradation in UV/H₂O₂ process. Our findings suggested that UV/H₂O₂ has more advantages on the control of ARB and intracellular ARGs compared to UV alone.

水环境中抗生素耐药性的扩散可能导致抗生素治疗失败已引起全世界的关注。然而，基于紫外线的高级氧化过程对抗生素抗性细菌 (ARB) 失活和抗生素抗性基因 (ARGs) 降解的影响尚未得到很好的研究。本研究旨在比较研究在UV和UV/H ₂ O _{2照射下灭活耐万古霉素}粪肠球菌(VRE)和降解其含有的vanB基因的去除效果。结果表明，VRE 在 UV 和 UV/H ₂ O ₂工艺中都容易失活。虽然 UV/H ₂ O ₂在 VRE 失活方面仅略优于单独的紫外线，它显着抑制了细菌的光活化和再生。UV/H ₂ O _{2确实实现了细胞内}vanB的协同降解（0.1-0.8 log），这可以通过增加UV强度、降低pH值和分批添加H ₂ O _{2来进一步增强。}OH的增强诱导导致细胞膜损伤，促进过量OH 的进入并更有效地氧化释放的细胞内 ARGs。总体而言，腐植酸的存在抑制了 VRE 的失活和vanB的降解, 而较低浓度的腐植酸 (2.5–5 mg/L) 可以作为自由基引发剂并略微促进UV/H ₂ O ₂过程中的vanB降解。我们的研究结果表明，与单独的 UV 相比，UV/H ₂ O _{2在控制 ARB 和细胞内 ARGs 方面具有更多优势。}