CANBERRA, Aug. 18 — Aircraft toilet wastewater could warn of the global spread of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) superbugs, Australian-led research finds.
Researchers analyzed wastewater from 44 international flights to Australia from nine countries, detecting nine high-priority pathogens and multiple antibiotic resistance genes, including hospital-acquired, multi-drug resistant strains, according to a statement released Monday by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency.
Using advanced molecular techniques, the international team led by CSIRO found a gene for resistance to last-resort antibiotics on 17 flights, but it was absent from Australia’s urban wastewater, indicating likely introduction via international travel.
The study found five of the pathogens in all flight samples, with geographic variation in resistance levels. Flights from Asia carried higher concentrations of resistance genes compared with those from Europe, it said. “Aircraft wastewater captures microbial signatures from passengers across different continents, offering a non-invasive, cost-effective way to monitor threats like AMR,” said senior author Warish Ahmed, a principal research scientist from CSIRO.
Researchers confirmed that genetic material remains stable in aircraft toilet disinfectants for up to 24 hours, underlining the reliability of the method for surveillance.
AMR is expected to cause more than 39 million deaths globally by 2050, surpassing cancer, the authors said, adding the study suggests aircraft wastewater monitoring could offer early warnings of superbug threats, similar to COVID-19 wastewater testing.
The research, detailed in Microbiology Spectrum published by the American Society for Microbiology, was conducted in partnership with Xiamen University in China, the University of South Australia and Michigan Technological University in the United States.
