Occurrence of Pharmaceutical Residues and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Water and Sediments from Major Reservoirs (Owabi and Barekese Dams) in Ghana

Abstract

The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment is undesirable since their biological activity may impair ecosystem health of reservoirs that receive inflows from other water sources. This work determined the concentrations of analgesics and antibiotics, and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance among microbes in water and sediment samples from Owabi and Barekese reservoirs—two main sources of pipe-borne water in the Kumasi metropolis in Ghana. The study also assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practice of inhabitants near these reservoirs regarding the disposal of unused and expired medicines. Out of nine targeted pharmaceuticals, four were detected in at least one sample. Five analytes (caffeine, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, ibuprofen, and metronidazole) were below detection limit for all samples. The levels of pharmaceuticals were low, as expected, ranging from 0.06 to 36.51 μg/L in the water samples and 3.34–4.80 μg/kg in sediments. The highest detected concentration of any pharmaceutical in water was for diclofenac (107.87 μg/L), followed by metronidazole (22.23 μg/L), amoxicillin (1.86 μg/L), chloramphenicol (0.85 μg/L), and paracetamol (0.16 μg/L). Chloramphenicol recorded the highest concentration (10.22 μg/kg) in the sediments. Five bacteria isolates (Enterobacter, Clostridium, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Klebsiella) from the samples were resistant to all the antibiotics tested. Isolates of Corynebacterium and Listeria showed susceptibility to only doxycycline. Isolates of Bacillus were susceptible to only two antibiotics (erythromycin and doxycycline). All the 100 respondents interviewed admitted that they dispose of medications once they do not need them. Of those who disposed of unwanted medicines, 79% did so inappropriately. Disposal in household trash (67%) was the most common method used. Majority of respondents felt the need for a facility or program to collect unused medicines (77%), hence their willingness to pay to reduce pollution by pharmaceuticals in the environment. It is quite clear from the ecotoxicological risk assessment that a single pharmaceutical at very low level as those in this study and other works is likely to pose many ecological risks upon long-term exposure and therefore cannot be ignored.

Environmental Risk Assessment of Analgesics and Antibiotics in Effluents from Three Selected Hospitals in Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana

“…Apart from paracetamol (analgesic) and cipro oxacin (antibiotic) detected at concentrations of 0.029-0.1142mg/L and 0.074-0.232 mg/L respectively in e uent samples from KATH, the rest were all below detection levels (Table 4). Similar to observations made by Azanu et al (2018) and Gyesi et al, (2022), the concentrations of pharmaceuticals detected were generally low. Ibuprofen and amoxicillin were below detection level possibly because they are not administered due to respective development of tolerance and resistance for them.…”

Antibiotic and analgesic residues in the environment – Occurrence and ecological risk study from the Sunyani municipality, Ghana

“…Pharmaceuticals have been detected in samples from dumpsites [14 ] , hospital effluents [15 ] , surface water [16] , [17] , and drinking water [18 ] all over the world. It has been noted that unwanted or expired medicines are most commonly thrown into trash cans or disposed of alongside household waste [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] .…”

“…This makes rivers and drinking water samples possible hotspots as well. Pharmaceuticals have been detected in food, hospital effluents, dumpsite leachates, surface and drinking water in some parts of Ghana [14] , [16] , [24] , [25] , [26] . However, the residual concentrations, occurrence, and ecological effects of antibiotics and analgesics in the Sunyani Municipality are obscure.…”

Magnetic activated carbon derived from pine fruit waste: efficient adsorbent for tetracycline (TC) and paracetamol (PC) removal from aqueous solution

“…Also, TC is an antibiotic that is mainly used to cure bacterial infections [18], mainly through its application in animal feed 19 . on the other hand, in a scienti c study, a signi cant correlation was observed between the concentration of TC in sewerage and the numeral antibiotic-resistant bacteria 20,21 . If these types of bacteria enter the human body, they can pose a serious threat by limiting the effectiveness of medical prescription because they have become resistant to the TC 22,23 .…”