LOS ANGELES — Bacteria that are resistant to colistin, a last-resort antibiotic, have for the first time been detected in Los Angeles County wastewater, suggesting that the germs are circulating more widely in the community than previously thought, according to researchers at the University of Southern California.
The superbugs were discovered during surveillance of wastewater — a practice that took off during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to track the presence and transmission of infectious agents within a community.
The pathogens appeared in samples of untreated water taken from two of Los Angeles County's largest treatment plants: the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant in Carson and the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey. The facilities serve a total of about 7.5 million people.
