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Pedro A. Segura,¹ Matthieu François,¹ Christian Gagnon,² and Sébastien Sauvé¹

¹Département de Chimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada; ²Aquatic Ecosystem Protection Research Division, Environment Canada, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Abstract
Objective: Anti-infectives are constantly discharged at trace levels in natural waters near urban centers and agricultural areas. They represent a cause for concern because of their potential contribution to the spread of anti-infective resistance in bacteria and other effects on aquatic biota. We compiled data on the occurrence of anti-infectives published in the last 24 years in environmental water matrices. The collected information was then compared with the available ecotoxicologic values to evaluate potential environmental concerns.

Data sources: We used Web of Science and Google Scholar to search for articles published in peer-reviewed journals written in the English language since 1984.

Data extraction: Information on compound concentrations in wastewaters and natural and drinking waters, the source of contamination, country of provenance of the samples, year of publication, limits of quantification, and method of analysis was extracted.

Data synthesis: From the 126 different substances analyzed in environmental waters, 68 different parent compounds and 10 degradation products or metabolites have been quantified to date. Environmental concentrations vary from about 10^–1 to 10⁹ ng/L, depending on the compound, the matrix, and the source of contamination.

Conclusions: Detrimental effects of anti-infectives on aquatic microbiota are possible with the constant exposure of sensitive species. Indirect impact on human health cannot be ruled out when considering the potential contribution of high anti-infective concentrations to the spreading of anti-infective resistance in bacteria.

Key words: antibacterials, antibiotics, antimicrobials, aquatic environment, drinking water, groundwater, resistance, surface water, wastewater. Environ Health Perspect 117:675–684 (2009) . doi:10.1289/ehp.11776 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 22 January 2009]

Address correspondence to S. Sauvé, Department of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Station Centre-ville, Montréal, QC, Canada H3C 3J7. Telephone: 1-514-343-6749. Fax: 1-514-343-7586. E-mail: sebastien.sauve@umontreal.ca

Supplemental Material is available online at http://www.ehponline.org/members/2009/11776/suppl.pdf

This study was supported by the Fonds de Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies du Québec, the St. Lawrence Action Plan, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

The authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 9 June 2008 ; accepted 21 January 2009.