Under what circumstances can chemical oxidation processes effectively degrade antibiotics resistance genes? Evidence from meta-analysis

Antibiotics resistance genes (ARGs) is a global concern impairing public health and environmental quality. Chemical oxidation processes (COPs) can generate free radicals, to oxo-degrade DNA and limit ARGs spread. After a rigorous collation of literature related to COPs degrading ARGs, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate five conventional COPs (photocatalysis, fenton-like oxidation, persulfate oxidation, ozone oxidation, and chlorination) in removing ARGs in aqueous environments. A random effects model was used to estimate the 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) and the amount of heterogeneity (R2) which signifies the influential capacity of specific factors. The results confirmed that COPs significantly diminish ARGs (95 % CI:-3.61, −3.17) with the subgroup analysis indicating that based heterogeneity (6.14 %) the type of COPs is crucial on ARGs removal performance. Specifically, Fenton delivers the highest oxidation effect (95 % CI: −6.06, −4.85). The type and location (intracellular, extracellular, or total) of such genes also influence removal efficiency (R2 of 7.45 % and 0.91 % respectively). Other factors, pH, COD content, temperature, oxidizer dosage, and reaction time were also found somewhat influential based on R2 (10.31 %, 3.36 %, 2.08 %, 0.70 %, and 0.26 % respectively). Overall, this meta-analysis summarizes on a quantitative manner the influential factors affecting ARGs pollution control via COPs in aqueous environments.