The occurrence of selected antibiotics in Hong Kong coastal waters

An overview of analytical methodologies for the determination of antibiotics in environmental waters

“…It is due to the following elution step when impurities can be eluted together with desirable analytes. The elution of cartridges is usually done by organic solvents such as MeOH (in majority of studies), acidified MeOH [4,19] or acetonitrile (ACN) [44][45][46]. The elution of cationexchange cartridges is done by the mixture of MeOH and ammonia according to the specific sorbent and guidelines from manufacturer.…”

Antibiotics in the offshore waters of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea in China: Occurrence, distribution and ecological risks

“…Some recent studies showed that notable amounts of antibiotic residues were transported to coastal areas via riverine inputs (Jia et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2012b;Zou et al, 2011) and STP effluents (Gulkowska et al, 2007;Minh et al, 2009) except for some residues that were used in mariculture (Jia et al, 2011). Although steep gradients from rivers (or STPs) to the sea were observed for most of the studied antibiotics due to dilution with seawater, many occurred widely in the coastal area, with some of the antibiotics causing high ecological risks to some aquatic organisms.…”

“…Among the ten detected antibiotics, the three predominant antibiotics also presented the highest concentrations. The mean and maximum concentrations of the three predominant antibiotics were from 0.69 to 1.4 ng L À1 and from 6.7 , respectively, which were obviously lower than those in the coastal water, such as the Bohai Bay (Zou et al, 2011), Laizhou Bay (Zhang et al, 2012b), Liaodong Bay (Jia et al, 2011), Victor Harbor (Minh et al, 2009), Hong Kong coasts (Gulkowska et al, 2007) and Belgian coastal harbors (Wille et al, 2010) (Supplementary Table S6). Compared with the three predominant antibiotics, the other antibiotics showed much lower concentrations.…”

Occurrence and risks of antibiotics in the coastal aquatic environment of the Yellow Sea, North China

“…Antibiotic residues are widely present in faeces, medical waste, soil and all types of aquatic environments due to the extensive and long-term use of antibiotics in human therapy and veterinary medicine as well as in promoting the growth of animals in livestock production (Kummerer, 2009). Terrestrial antibiotic residues could be transported to marine environments via riverine inputs Zhang et al, 2012b;Zou et al, 2011) and sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents (Gulkowska et al, 2007;Minh et al, 2009). These antibiotics and/or the residues used in mariculture cause various degrees of antibiotic pollution in the coastal environment.…”

“…For example, as shown in Table 1, the maximum concentration (c max ) of roxithromycin (RTM) was up to 630 ng L − 1 in Bohai Bay (Zou et al, 2011) of the of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) was up to 77 ng L − 1 in Liaodong Bay of the BS, the c max of dehydrated erythromycin (ETM-H 2 O) was up to 1730 ng L − 1 in Victoria Harbour of Hong Kong, China (Minh et al, 2009), the c max of SMX was up to 43 ng L − 1 in Belgian coastal harbours (Wille et al, 2010), and so on. However, the most recent studies mainly pay attention to semi-enclosed areas with poor water-exchange ability, such as the coastal areas of the three main bays (Bohai Bay, Laizhou Bay and Liaodong Bay) of the BS Zhang et al, 2012b;Zou et al, 2011) and Victoria Harbour of Hong Kong (Gulkowska et al, 2007;Minh et al, 2009;Xu et al, 2007b). Limited information is available regarding the presence of antibiotics in open coastal areas, which usually have stronger water-exchange ability and less serious pollution than semi-enclosed areas.…”