Pharmaceutical pollution of the world's rivers

Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world's rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Leapfrog diagnostics: Demonstration of a broad spectrum pathogen identification platform in a resource-limited setting

Background Resource-limited tropical countries are home to numerous infectious pathogens of both human and zoonotic origin. A capability for early detection to allow rapid outbreak containment and prevent spread to non-endemic regions is severely impaired by inadequate diagnostic laboratory capacity, the absence of a “cold chain” and the lack of highly trained personnel. Building up detection capacity in these countries by direct replication of the systems existing in developed countries is not a feasible approach and instead requires “leapfrogging” to the deployment of the newest diagnostic systems that do not have the infrastructure requirements of systems used in developed countries. Methods A laboratory for molecular diagnostics of infectious agents was established in Bo, Sierra Leone with a hybrid solar/diesel/battery system to ensure stable power supply and a satellite modem to enable efficient communication. An array of room temperature stabilization and refrigeration technologies for reliable transport and storage of reagents and biological samples were also tested to ensure sustainable laboratory supplies for diagnostic assays. Results The laboratory demonstrated its operational proficiency by conducting an investigation of a suspected avian influenza outbreak at a commercial poultry farm at Bo using broad range resequencing microarrays and real time RT-PCR. The results of the investigation excluded influenza viruses as a possible cause of the outbreak and indicated a link between the outbreak and the presence of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Conclusions This study demonstrated that by application of a carefully selected set of technologies and sufficient personnel training, it is feasible to deploy and effectively use a broad-range infectious pathogen detection technology in a severely resource-limited setting

Leapfrog diagnostics: Demonstration of a broad spectrum pathogen identification platform in a resource-limited setting

Abstract Background Resource-limited tropical countries are home to numerous infectious pathogens of both human and zoonotic origin. A capability for early detection to allow rapid outbreak containment and prevent spread to non-endemic regions is severely impaired by inadequate diagnostic laboratory capacity, the absence of a “cold chain” and the lack of highly trained personnel. Building up detection capacity in these countries by direct replication of the systems existing in developed countries is not a feasible approach and instead requires “leapfrogging” to the deployment of the newest diagnostic systems that do not have the infrastructure requirements of systems used in developed countries. Methods A laboratory for molecular diagnostics of infectious agents was established in Bo, Sierra Leone with a hybrid solar/diesel/battery system to ensure stable power supply and a satellite modem to enable efficient communication. An array of room temperature stabilization and refrigeration technologies for reliable transport and storage of reagents and biological samples were also tested to ensure sustainable laboratory supplies for diagnostic assays. Results The laboratory demonstrated its operational proficiency by conducting an investigation of a suspected avian influenza outbreak at a commercial poultry farm at Bo using broad range resequencing microarrays and real time RT-PCR. The results of the investigation excluded influenza viruses as a possible cause of the outbreak and indicated a link between the outbreak and the presence of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Conclusions This study demonstrated that by application of a carefully selected set of technologies and sufficient personnel training, it is feasible to deploy and effectively use a broad-range infectious pathogen detection technology in a severely resource-limited setting.</p

Pharmaceutical pollution of the world&apos;s rivers

Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world&apos;s rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.N

Pharmaceutical pollution of the world's rivers

Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world's rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals