Drug Analysis in Wastewaters in Erzurum

As a result of the increase in diseases in the world and in our country, there has been a significant increase

in the use of medical drugs. Studies conducted by Health Organizations have found that more than half of

the drugs used are not prescribed, distributed, or sold inappropriately. In addition, half of the patients stated

that they did not take or use the drugs they used as specified. As well as impacting negatively on individual

health, and resulting in extensive resource waste, pharmaceutical use – and “misuse” – can have significant

adverse repercussions on wildlife and ecosystems, particularly when unused medicines are disposed of

inappropriately1

. An ageing demographic, the rise of chronic health conditions, the availability of inexpensive

generic treatments, and the advent of “lifestyle” drugs have been the key drivers of increased pharmaceutical

medicine use within the European Region and our country. Medicine use for preventive purposes is also now

commonplace in some countries, with biomarkers used to assess risks often resulting in medicine use, even

when health risks are relatively low1,2

.

While the health and economic benefits of pharmaceutical developments are widely acknowledged, unused

drugs are inappropriately dumped into the environment. Pharmaceuticals thrown into the environment

affect the natural world more and more 1,2

.

Pharmaceuticals have been found mainly in surface waters such as lakes and rivers, but also in groundwater,

soil, manure and even drinking water. Pharmaceuticals have been found mainly in surface waters such as

lakes and rivers, but also in groundwater, soil, manure and even drinking water. There are two main routes

by which active pharmaceutical ingredients used within human medicines enter the environment. First, when

medicines taken are excreted in urine or faeces; and second, when unused medicines are thrown down the

toilet, sink or gabrage. In both cases, medical pharmaceuticals end up in sewage treatment plants that are

generally not designed to remove such pollutants from wastewater. Waste from drug production discharged

into surface waters may harm aquatic life, can potentially contaminate the meat of cattle, which can affect

the human food chain, and could further spread hazardous substances into the soil and waterways1–4

.

It is very important to determine drug concentrations based on direct concentration measurements of the

drug of interest (or its metabolites) excreted in the urine in untreated wastewater samples. In this study, it

was aimed to develop and validate a method for the determination of antibiotics in wastewater