February 01, 2023
Antibiotic residues found in wastewater would expose the population to high toxicity. And would clearly contribute to the scourge of antibiotic resistance. Explanations.
Wastewater from domestic consumption and the cultivation of plants is found to be loaded with antibiotics in several regions of the world, particularly in China and India. This unfortunately known phenomenon has already been the subject of numerous publications by the World Health Organization (WHO).
And according to Swedish researchers*, the consumption of this tap water which ends up in the glasses of the population – via treatment plants – would be harmful to human health. ” The main residues we have found come from the activity of hospitals, municipalities, livestock breeding centers and drug manufacturing plants”explains Professor Nada Hanna, main author of this study conducted in India and China, countries that are among the largest producers of drugs in the world.
In detail, the scientists analyzed 218 (Western Pacific Region) and 22 (Southeast Asia Region) readings taken between 2006 and 2019. They also used a method to determine which concentration of antibiotics caused an increase in antibiotic resistance. A total of 92 antibiotics were detected in the Western Pacific Region and 45 in the South East Asia Region.
Pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, salmonellosis
The circulation of these bacteria resistant to antibiotics by dint of being exposed to them also contributes to the aggravation of the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance. A growing number of bacterial infections contracted by humans and animals cannot be treated effectively with antibiotics which, a few years ago, offered real therapeutic benefits. Thus many patients with pneumonia, tuberculosis or even gonorrhea and salmonellosis receive ineffective antibiotics. And antibiotic resistance has a cost, in ” leading to prolonged hospitalizations, increased medical expenses and increased mortality “, concludes the WHO.
*Karolinska Institutet
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Source : The Lancet Planetary Health, January 4, 2023 – World Health Organization (WHO), site consulted on January 10, 2023
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Written by : Laura Bourgault – Edited by: Emmanuel Ducreuzet
