title: Antibiotics in the aquatic environments: A review of the European scenario.
abstract: The discovery of antibiotics is considered one of the most significant scientific achievements of the 20th century, revolutionizing both human and veterinary medicine. However, antibiotics have been recently recognized as an emerging class of environmental contaminants since they have been massively administrated in humans and animals and persist in the environment through a complex vicious cycle of transformation and bioaccumulation. The diffusion of antibiotics in the environment, particularly in natural water systems, contributes to the development and global dissemination of antibiotic resistance. This phenomenon is one of the most important challenges to the health care sector in the 21st century. As a result, studies on the occurrence, fate, and effects of antibiotics in European aqueous environments have increased in the last years. Nevertheless, their potential aquatic ecotoxicity and human toxicity via environmental exposure routes remain unknown. Consequently, antibiotics are not regulated through the current European environmental water quality standards, which requires evidence concerning their widespread environmental contamination and intrinsic hazard. In this context, this literature review summarizes the state of knowledge on the occurrence of antibiotics in the different aqueous environmental systems across the Europe, as reported since 2000. Relating this subject to antibiotic consumption and their dynamic behavior in the environment, the acquired insights provide an improved understanding on aquatic pollution by antibiotics to outline the European scenario. Moreover, it addresses challenges, prospects for future research, and typical topics to stimulate discussion.
authors.affiliation: LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Isabel T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: lsantos@fe.up.pt.
authors.forename: Lúcia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000187:drug effects; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Aquatic ecotoxicity; Aquatic environment; European scenario; Multiresidue analysis