| Abstract | During the first period of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the lack of specific therapeutic treatments led to the provisional use of a number of drugs, with a continuous review of health protocols when new scientific evidence emerged. The management of this emergency sanitary situation could not take care of the possible indirect adverse effects on the environment, such as the release of a large amount of pharmaceuticals from wastewater treatment plants. The massive use of drugs, which were never used so widely until then, implied new risks for the aquatic environment. In this study, a suspect screening approach using Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry techniques, allowed us to survey the presence of pharmaceuticals used for COVID-19 treatment in three WWTPs of Lombardy region, where the first European cluster of SARS-CoV-2 cases was detected. Starting from a list of sixty-three suspect compounds used against COVID-19 (including some metabolites and transformation products), six compounds were fully identified and monitored together with other target analytes, mainly pharmaceuticals of common use. A monthly monitoring campaign was conducted in a WWTP from April to December 2020 and the temporal trends of some anti-COVID-19 drugs were positively correlated with those of COVID-19 cases and deaths. The comparison of the average emission loads among the three WWTPs evidenced that the highest loads of hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin were measured in the WWTP which received the sewages from a hospital specializing in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The monitoring of the receiving water bodies evidenced the presence of eight compounds of high ecological concern, whose risk was assessed in terms of toxicity and the possibility of inducing antibiotic and viral resistance. The results clearly showed that the enhanced, but not completely justified, use of ciprofloxacin and azithromycin represented a risk for antibiotic resistance in the aquatic ecosystems. |
| Text | 465862 2022 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153756 Scopus 2 s2.0 85124872292 COVID 19 Antiviral drugs Antibiotics Pharmaceuticals Suspect screening Wastewater based epidemiology Suspect screening of wastewaters to trace anti COVID 19 drugs Potential adverse effects on aquatic environment Cappelli F.; Longoni O.; Rigato J.; Rusconi M.; Sala A.; Fochi I.; Palumbo M.T.; Polesello S.; Roscioli C.; Salerno F.; Stefani F.; Bettinetti R.; Valsecchi S. Water Research Institute National Research Council IRSA CNR , MB, Brugherio, 20861, Water Research Institute National Research Council IRSA CNR , 20861 Brugherio MB , Italy, , Italy; University of Insubria, Department of Human Science of the Innovation for the Territory, CO, Como, 22100, University of Insubria, Department of Human Science of the Innovation for the Territory, 22100 Como CO , Italy, , Italy; BrianzAcque s.r.l., MB, Monza, 20090, BrianzAcque s.r.l., 20090 Monza MB , Italy, , Italy; Thermo Fisher Scientific s.p.a., MI, Rodano, 20090, Thermo Fisher Scientific s.p.a., 20090 Rodano MI , Italy, , Italy During the first period of the SARS CoV 2 pandemic, the lack of specific therapeutic treatments led to the provisional use of a number of drugs, with a continuous review of health protocols when new scientific evidence emerged. The management of this emergency sanitary situation could not take care of the possible indirect adverse effects on the environment, such as the release of a large amount of pharmaceuticals from wastewater treatment plants. The massive use of drugs, which were never used so widely until then, implied new risks for the aquatic environment. In this study, a suspect screening approach using Liquid Chromatography High Resolution Mass Spectrometry techniques, allowed us to survey the presence of pharmaceuticals used for COVID 19 treatment in three WWTPs of Lombardy region, where the first European cluster of SARS CoV 2 cases was detected. Starting from a list of sixty three suspect compounds used against COVID 19 including some metabolites and transformation products , six compounds were fully identified and monitored together with other target analytes, mainly pharmaceuticals of common use. A monthly monitoring campaign was conducted in a WWTP from April to December 2020 and the temporal trends of some anti COVID 19 drugs were positively correlated with those of COVID 19 cases and deaths. The comparison of the average emission loads among the three WWTPs evidenced that the highest loads of hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin were measured in the WWTP which received the sewages from a hospital specializing in the treatment of COVID 19 patients. The monitoring of the receiving water bodies evidenced the presence of eight compounds of high ecological concern, whose risk was assessed in terms of toxicity and the possibility of inducing antibiotic and viral resistance. The results clearly showed that the enhanced, but not completely justified, use of ciprofloxacin and azithromycin represented a risk for antibiotic resistance in the aquatic ecosystems. 824 Published version http //www.scopus.com/record/display.url eid=2 s2.0 85124872292 origin=inward Articolo in rivista Elsevier 0048 9697 Science of the total environment Science of the total environment Sci. total environ. mariateresa.palumbo PALUMBO MARIA TERESA stefano.polesello POLESELLO STEFANO claudiogiovanni.roscioli ROSCIOLI CLAUDIO GIOVANNI franco.salerno SALERNO FRANCO fabrizio.stefani STEFANI FABRIZIO saramaria.valsecchi VALSECCHI SARA MARIA |
