Occurrence and risks of contrast agents, cytostatics, and antibiotics in hospital effluents

Abstract

During the past 20 years, the presence of pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) in the water bodies has been gaining increasing attention and nowadays there is a broad acknowledgment on their consideration as an emerging environmental problem. As a response to this threat, regulatory agencies and the European Commission have implemented a regulatory framework for environmental risk assessment (ERA) of PhACs. One of the main sources of pharmaceuticals in the environment is connected to the hospital discharge into the urban system including the antibiotic resistances and large number of pathogens. Despite wastewater is normally collected and delivered to wastewater treatment plants, it has been demonstrated that the regular treatments applied in such facilities are not completely effective through a variety of pharmaceuticals that are subsequently introduced into the environment. In this document, the authors explore the occurrence in hospital wastewater and the environmental risks of three relevant pharmaceutical groups: cytostatics, antibiotics, and contrast agents.