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Title: | Occurrence and risk assessment of antibiotics in water and lettuce in Ghana |
Authors: | Azanu, David Styrishave, Bjarne Darko, Godfred Weisser, Johan Juhl Abaidoo, Robert Clement |
Keywords: | Antibiotic uptake Wastewater stabilization pond Irrigation water Hospital wastewater Human exposure Antibiotics resistance |
Issue Date: | 2018 |
Publisher: | Science of the Total Environment |
Citation: | Science of the Total Environment 622–623 (2018) 293–305 |
Abstract: | Hospital wastewater and effluents from waste stabilization ponds in Kumasi, Ghana, are directly discharged as
low quality water into nearby streamswhich are eventually used to irrigate vegetables. The presence of 12 commonly
used antibiotics in Ghana (metronidazole, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, trimethoprim, ampicillin,
cefuroxime, sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin, tetracycline, oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline)
were investigated in water and lettuce samples collected in three different areas in Kumasi, Ghana. The water
samples were from hospital wastewater, wastewater stabilization ponds, rivers and irrigation water, while the
lettuce samples were from vegetable farms and market vendors. Antibiotics in water samples were extracted
using SPE while antibiotics in lettuce samples were extracted using accelerated solvent extraction followed by
SPE. All extracted antibiotics samples were analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS. All studied compounds were detected in
concentrations significantly higher (p = 0.01) in hospital wastewater than in the other water sources. The
highest concentration found in the present study was 15 μg/L for ciprofloxacin in hospital wastewater. Irrigation
water samples analyzed had concentrations of antibiotics up to 0.2 μg/L. Wastewater stabilization ponds are low
technology but effective means of removing antibiotics with removal efficiency up to 95% recorded in this study.
However, some chemicals are still found in levels indicating medium to high risk of antibiotics resistance development
in the environment. The total concentrations of antibiotics detected in edible lettuce tissues from vegetable
farms and vegetable sellers at the markets were in the range of 12.0–104 and 11.0–41.4 ng/kg (fresh
weight) respectively. The antibiotics found with high concentrations in all the samples were sulfamethoxazole,
erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, cefuroxime and trimethoprim. Furthermore, our study confirms the presence of
seven antibiotics in lettuce from irrigation farms and markets, suggesting an indirect exposure of humans to antibiotics through vegetable consumption and drinking water in Ghana. However, estimated daily intake for a
standard 60 kg woman was 0.3 ng/day, indicating low risk for human health. |
Description: | An article published in Science of the Total Environment 622–623 (2018) 293–305 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/13720 |
Appears in Collections: | College of Science
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