Occurrence and risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater in Costa Rica
Fecha
2023
Tipo
artículo original
Autores
Rodríguez Rodríguez, Carlos E.
Ramírez Morales, Didier Daniel
Masís Mora, Mario Alberto
Montiel Mora, José Rolando
Soto Garita, Claudio
Araya Valverde, Emanuel
Cambronero Heinrichs, Juan Carlos
Sànchez Melsió, Alexandre
Briceño Guevara, Susana
Méndez Rivera, Michael
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Resumen
This work aims to determine the occurrence, hazard and prioritization of pharmaceuticals from hospital wastewater in Costa Rica through the monitoring of 70 compounds and assessing their environmental risk through a hazard quotient approach (HQ). Moreover, the quantification of selected antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was conducted for the first time in this matrix in this geographical location. Thirty-four pharmaceuticals were detected, being caffeine, 1,7-dimethylxanthine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen, ciprofloxacin and ketoprofen the most frequent (>50% of the samples). Eighteen pharmaceuticals exhibited high hazard (HQ ≥ 1), while five more showed medium hazard (1 > HQ ≥ 0.1). Prioritization, which also included frequency parameters, revealed caffeine, lovastatin, diphenhydramine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, ciprofloxacin, and sildenafil as the compounds of major concern. Similarly, cumulative hazard per sample (ΣHQ) estimated high hazard towards aquatic organisms in every sample. All selected ARGs, except mcr-1 (polymyxin resistance), were detected. Among genes conferring resistance to beta-lactams, blaCTX-M and blaKPC were the most abundant, related to resistance to cephalosporins and carbapenems. Ecotoxicological evaluation showed mostly low toxicity towards Daphnia magna and Vibrio fischeri, contrary to the marked effect observed towards Lactuca sativa. These findings provide relevant and novel information on the risk posed by hospital wastewater and their pharmaceutical content in the Latin American environmental context.
Descripción
Palabras clave
COSTA RICA, SEWAGE WATER, HOSPITAL, RISK, PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS, EVALUATION