Occurrence and risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater in Costa Rica

Carlos E. Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Didier Ramírez-Morales, Mario Masis-Mora, José R. Montiel-Mora, Claudio Soto-Garita, Emanuel Araya-Valverde, Juan Carlos Cambronero-Heinrichs, Alexandre Sànchez-Melsió, Susana Briceño-Guevara, Michael Mendez-Rivera, José L. Balcázar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

This work aims to determine the occurrence, hazard and prioritization of pharmaceuticals from hospital wastewater in Costa Rica through the monitoring of 70 compounds and assessing their environmental risk through a hazard quotient approach (HQ). Moreover, the quantification of selected antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was conducted for the first time in this matrix in this geographical location. Thirty-four pharmaceuticals were detected, being caffeine, 1,7-dimethylxanthine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen, ciprofloxacin and ketoprofen the most frequent (>50% of the samples). Eighteen pharmaceuticals exhibited high hazard (HQ ≥ 1), while five more showed medium hazard (1 > HQ ≥ 0.1). Prioritization, which also included frequency parameters, revealed caffeine, lovastatin, diphenhydramine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, ciprofloxacin, and sildenafil as the compounds of major concern. Similarly, cumulative hazard per sample (ΣHQ) estimated high hazard towards aquatic organisms in every sample. All selected ARGs, except mcr-1 (polymyxin resistance), were detected. Among genes conferring resistance to beta-lactams, blaCTX-M and blaKPC were the most abundant, related to resistance to cephalosporins and carbapenems. Ecotoxicological evaluation showed mostly low toxicity towards Daphnia magna and Vibrio fischeri, contrary to the marked effect observed towards Lactuca sativa. These findings provide relevant and novel information on the risk posed by hospital wastewater and their pharmaceutical content in the Latin American environmental context.

Original languageEnglish
Article number139746
JournalChemosphere
Volume339
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Antibiotic resistance genes
  • Emerging pollutants
  • Hospital wastewater
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Risk analysis
  • Toxicity

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