Inadequate waste management drives the spread of antimicrobial resistance across the watershed of a large African city [dataset]

Su, Jian-Qiang; Zhou, Y. (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China); Zhou, Y. (Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pollution Control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, China); Li, H. (Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pollution Control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, China); Haileselassie, M.M. (Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority, Ethiopia); Djordjevic, S.P. (University of Technology Sydney, Australia); Haile, A.T. (International Water Management Institute, Ethiopia); Zhou, Y. (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China); Li, H. (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China); Quintela-Baluja, M. (Durham University, UK); Kibret, M. (Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia); Li, H. (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China); Jobling, K. (Durham University, UK); Su, Jian-Qiang (Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pollution Control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, China); Mateo-Sagasta, J. (International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka); Kassa, J.M. (Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority, Ethiopia); Su, Jian-Qiang (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China); Demissie, K. (International Water Management Institute, Ethiopia); Bekele, T.W. (International Water Management Institute, Ethiopia); Wyrsch, E.R. (University of Technology Sydney, Australia); Graham, D.W. (Durham University, UK)

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Inadequate waste management drives the spread of antimicrobial resistance across the watershed of a large African city [dataset] Open Access

Rapid urbanization in the Global South consistently outpaces sanitation infrastructure, transforming urban rivers into AMR reservoirs. Yet watershed-scale quantification of resistomes in such settings remains scarce, limiting exposure risk assessment and intervention planning. Here we present the most detailed spatial baseline for waterborne AMR in sub-Saharan Africa, using the Akaki River (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) as a model system for rapidly urbanizing megacity watersheds with inadequate sanitation. We sampled 38 sites across an extreme pollution gradient during the dry season, when low flow produces maximum pollutant concentrations and the highest resident exposure risk. Water quality, microbiome marker data, 309 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and 57 mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were quantified by high-throughput quantitative PCR. ARG and MGE abundances in central urban reaches exceeded 10^10 gene copies L-1, indistinguishable from untreated sewage. Critically, clinically important ARGs co-occurred widely with broad-host-range MGEs, including the IncP-1α plasmid backbone, IS26, ISEcp1, IS6100, and class 1 integron integrase genes, indicating that ARGs are primed for potential horizontal gene transfer in waters where hundreds of thousands of Addis residents bathe, wash, and irrigate food crops. Dissolved oxygen depletion and elevated NH4-N correlated significantly with resistome expansion (p < 0.01), serving as robust chemical proxies for diffuse, system-wide raw sewage inputs that carry the actual mechanistic AMR drivers (e.g., heavy metals, antibiotic residues, and resistant hosts). The 38-site spatial design and dry-season worst-case conditions together provide a replicable model for AMR exposure assessment in comparable Global South cities.

Descriptions

Resource type: Dataset
Contributors: Creator: Zhou, Y. ¹
Zhou, Y. ²
Zhou, Y. ³
Haile, A.T. ⁴
Kibret, M. ⁵
Li, H. ¹
Li, H. ²
Li, H. ³
Haileselassie, M.M. ⁶
Bekele, T.W. ⁴
Kassa, J.M. ⁶
Demissie, K. ⁴
Wyrsch, E.R. ⁷
Djordjevic, S.P. ⁷
Jobling, K. ⁸
Quintela-Baluja, M. ⁸
Su, Jian-Qiang
Su, Jian-Qiang ²
Su, Jian-Qiang ³
Mateo-Sagasta, J. ⁹
Graham, D.W. ⁸

¹ Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
³ Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pollution Control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, China
⁴ International Water Management Institute, Ethiopia
⁵ Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
⁶ Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority, Ethiopia
⁷ University of Technology Sydney, Australia
⁸ Durham University, UK
⁹ International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka
Funder: CGIAR Trust Fund
China National Science and Technology
National Natural Science Foundation of China
JPIAMR
Medical Research Council
Research methods
Other description
Keyword: Antibiotic resistance genes
Mobile genetic elements
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) potential
Waterborne biological hazards
Spatial AMR characterization
Global South urbanization
Subject: Drug resistance in microorganisms
Waterborne infection
Location: Akaki Kaliti, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Language
Cited in: doi:10.1016/j.envint.2026.110554
Identifier: ark:/32150/r26d56zw722
doi:10.15128/r26d56zw722
Rights: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY)
Publisher: Durham University
Date Created

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