Assessment and mitigation of antimicrobial resistance in groundwater

Antimicrobial resistance is a serious health hazard that leads to more than 750,000 annual deaths globally. This mortality is particularly enhanced in cancer patients as it causes an increase in the incidence of sepsis-associated deaths. Antimicrobial resistance is caused not only by clinical malpractices but also by many environmental activities. For example, groundwater contamination by sewage is considered a critical source of contamination with bacteria potentially harboring antimicrobial resistance genes. Conventional microbiological, culture-dependent techniques are insufficient to portray a complete picture of the antimicrobial resistome in these environments. Hence, we set out to use sequence-based shotgun metagenomics to not only investigate antimicrobial resistance in groundwater but also explore the viral communities and novel phage lytic enzymes that can serve as alternatives to antibiotics to possibly alleviate this intractable problem. In conclusion, this study aspires to enhance our understanding of antimicrobial resistance in groundwater and mitigate it.