Atal Centre for Ocean Science and Technology for Islands, ESSO-National Institute of Ocean Technology, Dollygunj, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.
National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Environ Toxicol Chem. 2022 Feb;41(2):298-311. doi: 10.1002/etc.5212. Epub 2021 Oct 21.
The presence of pharmaceutically active compounds (PACs) in the environment and their associated hazards is a major global health concern; however, data on these compounds are scarce in developing nations. In the present study, the existence of 39 non-antimicrobial PACs and six of their metabolites in wastewater from hospitals and adjacent surface waters in Sri Lanka was investigated from 2016 to 2018. The highest amounts of the measured chemicals, including the highest concentrations of atorvastatin (14,620 ng/L) and two metabolites, mefenamic acid (12,120 ng/L) and o-desmethyl tramadol (8700 ng/L), were detected in wastewater from the largest facility. Mefenamic acid, gemfibrozil, losartan, cetirizine, carbamazepine, and phenytoin were detected in all the samples. The removal rates in wastewater treatment were 100% for zolpidem, norsertaline, quetiapine, chlorpromazine, and alprazolam. There was substantial variation in removal rates of PACs among facilities, and the overall data suggest that treatment processes in facilities were ineffective and that some PAC concentrations in the effluents were increased. The estimated risk quotients revealed that 14 PACs detected in water samples could pose low to high ecological risk to various aquatic organisms. Compounds such as ibuprofen, tramadol, and chlorpromazine detected in untreated and treated wastewater at these facilities pose a high risk to several aquatic organisms. Our study provides novel monitoring data for non-antimicrobial PAC abundance and the associated potential ecological risk related to hospitals and urban surface waters in Sri Lanka and further offers valuable information on pre-COVID-19 era PAC distribution in the country. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:298-311. © 2021 SETAC.
环境中存在的药物活性化合物（PACs）及其相关危害是一个主要的全球健康关注点；然而，发展中国家关于这些化合物的数据却很少。在本研究中，于 2016 年至 2018 年，对斯里兰卡医院废水和相邻地表水的 39 种非抗菌 PAC 及其 6 种代谢物进行了调查。在所检测到的化学物质中，包括阿托伐他汀（14,620ng/L）和两种代谢物甲芬那酸（12,120ng/L）和去甲曲马多（8700ng/L）的浓度最高，均在最大的设施的废水中被检测到。所有样本中均检测到甲芬那酸、吉非贝齐、氯沙坦、西替利嗪、卡马西平和苯妥英。在废水处理中，佐匹克隆、去甲文拉法辛、喹硫平、氯丙嗪和阿普唑仑的去除率为 100%。各设施间 PAC 的去除率存在很大差异，总体数据表明，设施中的处理工艺无效，一些流出物中的 PAC 浓度增加。估算的风险商数表明，在所检测到的水样中，14 种 PAC 对各种水生生物可能构成低至高的生态风险。在这些设施未经处理和处理的废水中检测到的布洛芬、曲马多和氯丙嗪等化合物对几种水生生物构成高风险。本研究为斯里兰卡医院和城市地表水的非抗菌 PAC 丰度及其相关潜在生态风险提供了新的监测数据，并为该国 COVID-19 前时代 PAC 分布提供了有价值的信息。Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:298-311. © 2021 SETAC.
