title: Fluoroquinolone antibiotics: an emerging class of environmental micropollutants.
abstract: The aim of this review paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of different chemical and environmental aspects concerning fluoroquinolone antibiotics as emerging contaminants. A literature survey has been performed based on 204 papers from 1998 to mid-2013, resulting in a dataset consisting out of 4100 data points related to physical-chemical properties, environmental occurrence, removal efficiencies, and ecotoxicological data. In a first part, an overview is given on relevant physical-chemical parameters to better understand the behavior of fluoroquinolones during wastewater treatment and in the environment. Secondly, the route of these antibiotics after their application in both human and veterinary surroundings is discussed. Thirdly, the occurrence of fluoroquinolone residues is discussed for different environmental matrices. The final part of this review provides a tentative risk assessment of fluoroquinolone compounds and their transformation products in surface waters by means of hazard quotients. Overall, this review shows that fluoroquinolone antibiotics have a wide spread use and that their behavior during wastewater treatment is complex with an incomplete removal. As a result, it is observed that these biorecalcitrant compounds are present in different environmental matrices at potentially hazardous concentrations for the aquatic environment. The latter calls for actions on both the consumption as well as the wastewater treatment aspect to diminish the discharge of these biological active compounds.
authors.affiliation: Research Group EnVOC, Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Xander
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Van Doorslaer
authors.affiliation: Research Group EnVOC, Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dewulf
authors.affiliation: Research Group EnVOC, Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Van Langenhove
authors.affiliation: Research Group EnVOC, Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: Kristof.Demeestere@UGent.be.
authors.forename: Kristof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Demeestere
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D024841:Fluoroquinolones / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D024841:Fluoroquinolones
keywords: Antibiotics; Environment; Fluoroquinolones; Pharmaceuticals; Water