Читать книгу Applied Water Science - Группа авторов - Страница 48

The current chapter presented an overview of the occurrence, behaviour, human health risks, and removal of pharmaceuticals in aquatic systems. The major classes of pharmaceuticals detected in aquatic systems were antibiotics, beta-blockers, analgesics, cancer therapeutics, antiinflammatory drugs, lipid regulators, endocrine disruptors, and illicit drugs. Hotspot sources include medical facilities, pharmaceutical industries, veterinary facilities, and municipal wastewater treatment systems which act as reservoirs of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites. Hydrological processes disseminated pharmaceuticals into various aquatic systems, where they undergo sorption, biochemical degradation, phase partitioning, and uptake and bioaccumulation by aquatic organisms. Ingestion of contaminated water and aquatic foods, inhalation, and dermal contact contribute to human exposure. Barring the risk for antimicrobial resistance caused by pharmaceuticals, the evidence linking pharmaceuticals to human health outcomes remain poor. However, human health risks could be significant in Africa and other developing regions due to several risk factors. These exposure risk factors include: (1) the high prevalence of consumption of raw drinking water and aquatic foods from polluted sources, (2) a putative high pharmaceutical pollution associated with intensive use of pharmaceuticals to control the high animal and human disease burden in the tropics, (3) high abuse and misuse of pharmaceuticals caused by the existence of informal markets and weak and poorly enforced environmental, public health, and medicines regulations. The capacity of conventional and advanced water treatment processes to remove pharmaceutics in aqueous systems was discussed. Finally, future research directions were highlighted to address the lack of comprehensive data on the ecotoxicology, epidemiology, and behaviour and fate of pharmaceuticals in aquatic systems especially in the tropics.