Assessment of potential risks to the health of the population of the Baikal region when using products contaminated with antibiotics

Abstract

Modern ecological problems are considered - pollution of the natural environment with antibiotics and resistance to antimicrobial drugs, when microorganisms mutate and lose susceptibility to antibiotics. The reasons for this dangerous phenomenon are the ever-growing and uncontrolled use of antibiotics in medicine, veterinary medicine and agriculture. Most antibiotics are not completely metabolized in humans and animals, a significant part of the injected drugs enters the water and soil through urban wastewater, animal manure and sewage sludge transported to agricultural fields as fertilizers and pose environmental risks to human health. Assessment of environmental risks from the accumulation of antibiotics in natural waters and food is extremely important for the Baikal natural territory. This is an area that includes Lake Baikal (a World Heritage site), a water protection zone adjacent to Lake Baikal, its catchment basin on the territory of the Russian Federation, natural zones of primary protection adjacent to Lake Baikal, as well as an area about 200 km wide adjacent to Lake Baikal to the west and northwest of it. It may be at potential risk both for endemic species of Lake Baikal and for the population in case of chronic exposure and accumulation of antibiotics in environmental objects. The purpose of this work was a predictive assessment of the environmental risk to public health with direct oral consumption of water, meat and other products grown in an area contaminated with antibiotics. The initial data were the results of monitoring the quality of food products entering the retail network of the Irkutsk region. It was found that on average, an adult resident of the region receives 0.5718 mg/kg of antibiotics daily with food. A child aged 6 to 12 years receives 1.3803 mg/kg of antibiotic daily with food, and a child aged 2 to 6 years receives 2.6686 mg/kg of the substance. Residents of the Baikal region, adults and children aged 2 to 12 years, have a potential environmental health risk as a result of exposure to antibiotics coming with food on the body an order of magnitude higher than the safe level and it is necessary to take actions aimed at minimizing such risks.