title: Genotoxicity of wastewater from health care facilities.
abstract: Health care facilities use for therapeutic purposes, diagnostics, research, and disinfection a high number of chemical compounds, such as pharmaceuticals (e.g. antibiotics, cytostatics, antidepressants), disinfectants, surfactants, metals, radioactive elements, bleach preparations, etc. Hospitals consume significant amounts of water (in the range of 400 to 1200 liters/day/bed) corresponding to the amount of wastewater discharge. Some of these chemicals are not eliminated in wastewater treatment plants and are the source of pollution for surface and groundwater supplies. Hospital wastewater represents chemical and biological risks for public and environmental health as many of these compounds might be genotoxic and are suspected to contribute to the increased incidence of cancer observed during the last decades. The changes of the genetic information can have a lethal effect, but more often cause tumor processes or mutations in embryonic development causing serious defects. A review of the available literature on the mutagenicity/genotoxicity of medical facilities wastewater is presented in this article.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha, Czech Republic.|National Institute of Public Health, Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Alena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vlková
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Zdeňka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wittlingerová
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha, Czech Republic.|National Institute of Public Health, Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimová
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha, Czech Republic.|National Institute of Public Health, Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jírová
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health, Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kejlová
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health, Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Stanislav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Janoušek
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health, Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jírová
mesh_terms: D006268:Health Facilities; D006801:Humans; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000633:toxicity*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical