Characterization of pathogen distribution and pathogenicity from landfill site.

Landfills serve as significant environmental reservoirs for pathogens. This study investigated the abundance, distribution characteristics, and influencing factors of pathogens both within the landfill and its surrounding environment. The results unveiled contamination by pathogens in the external atmosphere (5.6 × 107 CFU/m3), soil (1.0 × 109 CFU/g), vegetation (4.7 × 1010 CFU/g), and groundwater (1.2 × 108 CFU/mL), with notably higher levels within the landfill. The abundance of human bacterial pathogens (HBPs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the landfill waste escalates with depth, particularly highlighting the concentration of multidrug ARGs and dominant offensive virulence factors (VFs). Furthermore, the discernible nonrandom co-occurrence patterns among ARGs, VFs, and HBPs intensify the resistance and pathogenicity of HBPs in the landfill waste. The shift in the HBPs community plays a pivotal role in shaping the genomic profiles of VFs and ARGs in the environment. Pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enterica, Staphylococcus aureus, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis are prevalent in waste samples, harboring multiple ARGs and VFs, rendering them high-risk HBPs in landfills. The insights into the distribution and pathogenicity of microorganisms at various landfill depths, alongside the contamination status outside the landfill, hold significant implications for the targeted management of pathogens in landfills.