In the aquaculture industry around the world antibiotics are used for fish disease prevention and treatment. High residual levels of those antibiotics may contaminate natural water resources as well as soil, aquatic animals and plants. Their overuse in human and animal populations can lead to the development of resistant microbial strains, posing a dire threat to global health. Use of antibiotics in aquaculture and its impact on the environment is a growing concern amongst scientists, yet quantifying the amount of use and how much is being disseminated into the environment is very difficult. As with the use of antibiotics in food production more generally, there is a need for better data.
To prevent the improper use of antibiotics in aquaculture and to assist the food safety law enforcement, this paper reports on assessing the feasibility of a bespoke electromagnetic wave sensing method for real-time in situ monitoring of residual antibiotic concentrations in water samples. For the first time the antibiotics solutions were tested in contact with planar sensor with interdigitated electrode pattern on a number of substrates, including Rogers®, FR4 and flexible polyimide substrates.
Specifically, this paper communicates the experimental results of using bespoke microwave planar type sensors for the determination of Quinolones, in particular Enrofloxacin (ENR) and Norfloxacin (NOR) antibiotic concentrations. Reflected power signals were analysed in GHz frequency range and these were dependent on both: the type of antibiotic present in water and on its concentration
