Ecosystem response to antibiotics entering the aquatic environment

Biodegradation of sulfamethoxazole: current knowledge and perspectives

“…The greatest anxiety is that their presence will lead to antibacterial resistance in biological wastewater (WW) treatment and the environment (Andersson 2003;Costanzo et al 2005;Daughton 2003;Daughton and Ternes 1999;Goni-Urriza et al 2000;Halling-Sorensen et al 1998;Kümmerer 2009b;Reinthaler et al 2003;Volkmann et al 2004). Recently, this has been demonstrated by the observed increase in antibacterial resistance in Acinetobacter spp.…”

“…At these concentrations, SMX has been found to be mutagenic but not acutely toxic to Vibrio fisheri and Daphnia magna (Isidori et al 2005) and to be phytotoxic to algae (García-Galán et al 2011) and other plant species (Hillis et al 2011). Several studies have measured a resistance to SMX in bacteria isolated from biological WW treatment (Costanzo et al 2005;Reinthaler et al 2003), which has raised concerns regarding the prevalence of SMX in WWs leading to the development of bacterial resistance in the aquatic environment. These concerns have been validated recently by the detection of sulfonamide resistance genes in river water (which was correlated to the total SMX concentration among other sulfonamides) (Luo et al 2010) and the prevalence of SMX-resistant bacteria in aquaculture environments (Gao et al 2012b).…”

Removal of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes from domestic sewage by constructed wetlands: Optimization of wetland substrates and hydraulic loading

“…After administration, antibiotic residues can be released into the receiving environments through discharge of the feces or urine, thus posing potential risks to human health and ecosystem (Costanzo et al, 2005;Kotzerke et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2009;Underwood et al, 2011). Use of antibiotics in humans and animals could also lead to development and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment (Pruden et al, 2006;Tao et al, 2010;Su et al, 2012).…”

Occurrence and fate of eleven classes of antibiotics in two typical wastewater treatment plants in South China

“…Wide occurrence of antibiotics in the environment could affect aquatic and terrestrial organisms (Costanzo et al, 2005;Kotzerke et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2009), alter microbial activity and community composition (Underwood et al, 2011), and lead to prevalence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics (LaPara et al, 2011;Su et al, 2012;Tao et al, 2010). In order to reduce the negative impacts on the environment and human health, it is necessary to understand the input sources for various classes of antibiotics.…”