Microplastics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria contamination in a river of central Italy

Plastic pollution and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represent two critical environmental and health threats in aquatic environments. The combined presence in river water of microplastics (MPs), particles smaller 5 mm, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), may enhance the spread of antibiotic resistances, as MPs provide the surface for ARB colonization and their delivery throughout the environment. In this study MPs were collected in a river of central Italy using a Manta-Net at two representative sites, and analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Polyethylene (PE) was the most abundant polymer accounting for over 60% of the total detected plastic debris. River water sampled from the same sites was filtered to isolate third-generation cephalosporin (3GC)-resistant Enterobacteriaceae , which showed a high percentage (44%) of multidrug resistance profiles. Findings of this research demonstrate the co-existence of these threats within the Chienti river, suggesting a possible amplification of AMR diffusion in the environment.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Frontiers in Freshwater Science

• Publication date

  2026-01-12

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3389/ffwsc.2025.1627987
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Occurrence of micropollutants and enterobacteria in Ticino Valley: an insight of water contamination in an agricultural area with highly anthropogenic impact

  2025cited by this paper
• The WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogens List 2024: a prioritisation study to guide research, development, and public health strategies against antimicrobial resistance

  2025cited by this paper
• Sustainability of the River Environment Related to Hydro-Chemical Stresses of Sewage Treatment Plants in Chienti and Potenza Rivers (Central Italy)

  2025cited by this paper
• Vehicle transmission of antibiotic-resistant pathogens mediated by plastic debris in aquatic ecosystems

  2024cited by this paper
• Historical behaviors of microplastic in estuarine and riverine reservoir sediment.

  2024cited by this paper
• Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990–2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050

  2024cited by this paper
• Contamination of coastal and marine bird species with plastics: Global analysis and synthesis.

  2024cited by this paper
• Plastisphere assemblages differ from the surrounding bacterial communities in transitional coastal environments.

  2023cited by this paper
• A Complete Guide to Extraction Methods of Microplastics from Complex Environmental Matrices

  2023cited by this paper
• Microplastisphere may induce the enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes on microplastics in aquatic environments: A review.

  2022cited by this paper
• Microplastics accumulation in gastrointestinal tracts of Mullus barbatus and Merluccius merluccius is associated with increased cytokine production and signaling.

  2022cited by this paper
• Following the fate of microplastic in four abiotic and biotic matrices along the Ticino River (North Italy).

  2022cited by this paper
• Hazardous microplastic characteristics and its role as a vector of heavy metal in groundwater and surface water of coastal south India.

  2021cited by this paper
• Temporal variation of floatable plastic particles in the largest Italian river, the Po.

  2021cited by this paper
• Potential risks of microplastics combined with superbugs: Enrichment of antibiotic resistant bacteria on the surface of microplastics in mariculture system.

  2020cited by this paper
• Marine Microbial Assemblages on Microplastics: Diversity, Adaptation, and Role in Degradation.

  2020cited by this paper
• The Travelling Particles: Investigating microplastics as possible transport vectors for multidrug resistant E. coli in the Weser estuary (Germany).

  2020cited by this paper
• Predicted growth in plastic waste exceeds efforts to mitigate plastic pollution

  2020cited by this paper
• Microplastics and their associated organic pollutants from the coastal waters of the central Adriatic Sea (Italy): Investigation of adipogenic effects in vitro.

  2020cited by this paper
• Microplastics and their possible sources: The example of Ofanto river in southeast Italy.

  2019cited by this paper
• Seasonal microplastics variation in nival and pluvial stretches of the Rhine River - From the Swiss catchment towards the North Sea.

  2019cited by this paper
• Plastic debris in rivers

  2019cited by this paper
• Microplastics as vectors of contaminants.

  2019cited by this paper
• Identification of CTX-M-15 and CTX-M-27 in Antibiotic-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria Isolated from Three Rivers Running in Central Italy

  2019cited by this paper
• A potpourri of microplastics in the sea surface and water column of the Mediterranean Sea

  2019cited by this paper
• The effect of dams on river transport of microplastic pollution.

  2019cited by this paper
• Impacts of plastic products used in daily life on the environment and human health: What is known?

  2019cited by this paper
• Freshwater environments as reservoirs of antibiotic resistant bacteria and their role in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes.

  2019cited by this paper
• Microplastic pollution increases gene exchange in aquatic ecosystems.

  2018cited by this paper
• Freshwater Microplastics: Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

  2018cited by this paper
• River plastic emissions to the world's oceans

  2017cited by this paper
• International high-risk clones of Klebsiella pneumoniae KPC-2/CC258 and Escherichia coli CTX-M-15/CC10 in urban lake waters.

  2017cited by this paper
• Microbial hitchhikers on marine plastic debris: Human exposure risks at bathing waters and beach environments.

  2016cited by this paper
• Microplastics in the Solent estuarine complex, UK: An initial assessment.

  2016cited by this paper
• Human recreational exposure to antibiotic resistant bacteria in coastal bathing waters.

  2015cited by this paper
• Prevalence and diversity of extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae from marine beach waters.

  2015cited by this paper
• Microplastic is an abundant and distinct microbial habitat in an urban river.

  2014cited by this paper
• On the quantity and composition of floating plastic debris entering and leaving the Tamar Estuary, Southwest England.

  2014cited by this paper
• Our plastic age

  2009cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.