University of South Africa, College of Science Engineering and Technology, Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability Research Unit, UNISA Science Campus, P.O. Box 392 UNISA 0003, Florida, 1709, Johannesburg, South Africa.
University of South Africa, College of Science Engineering and Technology, Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability Research Unit, UNISA Science Campus, P.O. Box 392 UNISA 0003, Florida, 1709, Johannesburg, South Africa; State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Process/National Center for International Joint Research on Membrane Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300387, PR China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2020 Jan 15;187:109868. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109868. Epub 2019 Nov 2.
The occurrence of azole antifungals in the environment presents one of the emerging concerns due to their ecotoxicological threat as well as their potential contribution to the evolution of drug resistant fungi in the environment. In this study, the occurrence of eight commonly prescribed azole antifungal drugs was seasonally determined in influent and effluent water samples from three wastewater treatment plants and a drinking water treatment plant in South Africa. In addition, the risk quotient (RQ) method was employed to investigate the potential ecological and human health risks associated with their presence in the wastewater and/or drinking water. Clotrimazole, econazole, fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole and miconazole were detected at least once in the water samples, while posaconazole and voriconazole were not detected in any of the samples for all seasons at which the samples were collected. Fluconazole was detected at higher frequency (about 96%) with a concentration up to 9959.0 ng L. Clotrimazole had the second highest frequency of detection (about 33%) with a concentration up to 143.3 ng L. Statistically significant temporal variation in clotrimazole (p < 0.05) and spatial variation in fluconazole (p < 0.05) were observed. In general, the preliminary ecological risk assessment based on risk quotient (RQ) calculation indicated that there is currently no high risk against aquatic organisms (Algae, Daphnia and Fish) related to the azole antifungals. Meanwhile, human health risk assessment demonstrated that fluconazole represented high risk in drinking water. Furthermore, risk estimates showed a potential for the detected concentrations of fluconazole and itraconazole in water samples to pose moderate to high risk for development of antifungal drug resistance. Some of the azole antifungal drugs are ubiquitous in the wastewater and future monitoring and validation studies should be conducted for those drugs that seem to pose human health and ecological risks.
唑类抗真菌药物在环境中的存在是一个新兴问题，因为它们具有生态毒性威胁，并且可能会促进环境中抗真菌药物耐药真菌的进化。在这项研究中，季节性测定了南非三个废水处理厂和一个饮用水处理厂的进水和出水样本中八种常用唑类抗真菌药物的浓度。此外，还采用风险商数（RQ）方法调查了其在废水和/或饮用水中存在时可能产生的生态和人类健康风险。氯康唑、益康唑、氟康唑、伊曲康唑、酮康唑和咪康唑至少在一次水样中被检出，而泊沙康唑和伏立康唑在所有采集水样的季节均未检出。氟康唑的检出频率最高（约 96%），浓度高达 9959.0ng/L。氯康唑的检出频率位居第二（约 33%），浓度高达 143.3ng/L。氯康唑（p<0.05）和氟康唑（p<0.05）的浓度存在统计学上的时间变化和空间变化。一般来说，基于风险商数（RQ）计算的初步生态风险评估表明，目前与唑类抗真菌药物相关的水生生物（藻类、水蚤和鱼类）没有高风险。同时，人类健康风险评估表明，氟康唑在饮用水中存在高风险。此外，风险估计表明，水样中检测到的氟康唑和伊曲康唑浓度可能会对抗真菌药物耐药性的产生构成中度至高度风险。一些唑类抗真菌药物在废水中普遍存在，对于那些似乎对人类健康和生态构成风险的药物，应进行未来的监测和验证研究。
