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The concentration of drugs in freshwater has increased dramatically in the last twenty years. The amount of antibiotic ciprofloxacin in the water is even so high that there is a risk of harmful ecological effects. This is apparent from research done by environmental experts from Radboud University. The research will be published in Environmental Research Letters on February 22. "We show that this should be measured in more places in the world."
"The availability of information is a major problem in the proper mapping of drug-related risks in the global environment. Although some models can predict concentrations of drugs in the environment on a detailed scale, such as the ePiE model, they can often only be used for places where we have a lot of information, such as European rivers. Says Rik Oldenkamp, lead author of the publication.
With the new model of researchers, which relies on an existing model with lower resolution, it is indeed possible to make global forecasts at the level of individual ecoregions.
With his colleagues, he for the first time mapped the risks of two drugs in fresh water in the world.
Harmful concentrations
For the two substances studied in the study – carbamazepine, a medicine against epilepsy, and ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic – the risks to the environment were 10 to 20 times higher in 2015 than in the past. 39, in 1995. The increase in the use of ciprofloxacin by humans in particular increases the risks on a global scale.
"The concentrations of this antibiotic are harmful to bacteria in the water, which in turn play an important role in all cycles of food. In addition, antibiotics can also have a negative influence on the effectiveness of bacterial colonies used for water purification, "says Oldenkamp.
Antibiotic resistance: also an environmental problem
Antibiotic resistance has been on the agenda of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations General Assembly for several years. Oldenkamp: "In general, this is considered a problem for the health sector: resistant bacteria can spread in hospitals or via livestock. However, the role of the environment in this problem is poorly known even if it is essential. After all, people are also exposed to bacteria when treating wastewater, rivers and lakes. & # 39;
More measurement data in high risk areas
"In ecoregions in densely populated and dry areas, such as in the Middle East, we expect a high environmental risk in our model, although we have limited data on drug use and water concentrations," explains Oldenkamp. The researchers predicted drug use by humans in these regions using regression models based on consumption from other countries and socio-economic and demographic information, and linked this information to information concerning, among other things, water flows and the number of people connected to water purification.
Oldenkamp: We show the model, we need new measurement data in these areas. At the end of the day, this model is a first application point where we can better understand the risks of all types of drugs in the environment around the world. & # 39;
This article has been republished from material provided by Radboud University. Note: Content may have changed for length and content. For more information, please contact the cited source.
Reference
Aquatic hazards related to pharmaceuticals for human use – modeling temporal trends of carbamazepine and ciprofloxacin globally. 2019. About. Res. Lett. 14 (2019) 034003 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab0071.
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