Antibiotic Residues in Waste Water of Rural and Urban Hospitals from South India

Abstract

Hospital effluent acts as the store house of pharmaceutical residues, harmful infectious agents such as the pathogens and microorganisms possessing multiple drug resistant genes. The antibiotics detected in hospitals have been shown to possibly exert effects on bacteria that lead to increased resistance. Present study was chosen to quantify the antibiotic residues in water associated with hospitals in South India. The samples were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A total of ten samples were analyzed. A total of 45 different antibiotics were identified and quantified among 10 hospital effluents. The quantification was given in method detection quantification limit (MDQL) and in trace. Among all the ten samples the maximum MDQL was detected as 17834 ng/ L (trimethoprim). Out of the gallery of antibiotics detected in this study, four antibiotics supported MDQL with more than 10000 ng/ L. The lowest trace value of antibiotic with 46 ng/ L (gatifloxacin) and maximum of 896 ng/ L (cefipime) was detected in sample 10 and 5 respectively. Hospitals and its effluents are one of the high sources for discharge of antibiotics and multidrug resistant strains into the environment and proportionallyexert a serious public health threat through confining the antibiotic pool. Likewise studies are required to figure out the presence of antibiotics in aquatic environment and the development of antimicrobial resistance and its subsequent public health impact.