The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new momentum to ‘wastewater-based epidemiology’ (WBE). This approach can be applied to monitor the levels of antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs), which in terms are used to make inferences about the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in human settlements. However, there is still little information about temporal variability in ARG levels measured in wastewater streams and how these influence the inferences made about the occurrence of AMR in communities. The goal of this study was hence to gain insights into the variability in ARG levels measured in the influent and effluent of two wastewater treatment plants in The Netherlands and link these to levels of antibiotic residues measured in the same samples. Eleven antibiotics were detected, together with all selected ARGs, except for VanB. Among the measured antibiotics, significant positive correlations (p > 0.70) with the corresponding resistance genes and some non-corresponding ARGs were found. Mass loads varied up to a factor of 35 between days and in concomitance with rainfall. Adequate sampling schemes need to be designed to ensure that conclusions are drawn from valid and representative data. Additionally, we advocate for the use of mass loads to interpret levels of AMR measured in wastewater.

COVID-19 大流行为“基于废水的流行病学”（WBE）带来了新的动力。这种方法可用于监测抗生素抗性基因 (ARG) 的水平，这些基因用于推断人类住区中抗微生物药物耐药性 (AMR) 的负担。然而，关于废水流中测量的 ARG 水平的时间变化以及这些如何影响对社区 AMR 发生的推断的信息仍然很少。因此，本研究的目的是深入了解荷兰两个污水处理厂的进水和出水中测量的 ARG 水平的变化，并将这些与在相同样品中测量的抗生素残留水平联系起来。除VanB外，检测到 11 种抗生素以及所有选定的 ARG. 在被测抗生素中，与相应的耐药基因和一些不对应的ARGs呈显着正相关（ p >0.70）。质量负荷在几天之间变化高达 35 倍，并伴随降雨。需要设计充分的抽样方案，以确保从有效和有代表性的数据中得出结论。此外，我们提倡使用质量负载来解释废水中测得的 AMR 水平。