Characterization of Microbial Communities and Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in Urban Wastewater in Different Cities in Vietnam

The inappropriate usage of antibiotics is accelerating the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in Vietnam. Wastewater surveillance is a promising approach to monitor the status of ARB and ARGs in urban cities. Domestic wastewater samples were collected from three major cities (Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Bac Ninh) in northern Vietnam in November 2022. Microbial communities were characterized using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. To enrich carbapenem resistant bacteria, domestic wastewater samples were further enriched with 4 mg/L of meropenem in tryptic soy broth overnight. PCR screening revealed that the enriched cultures had clinically important carbapenemase genes.