感控热点丨抗生素的环境副作用

dearhang

检索：濮阳市油田总医院 刘金淑
翻译：濮阳市油田总医院 刘金淑
审核：东莞市厚街医院 陈志锦


研究人员在《微化学杂志》(Microchemical Journal)上的撰文正引起人们的关注，常用的抗生素药物正在进入到环境之中，在那里它们可能会伤害对健康环境至关重要的微生物。他们的评论文章已被选中为爱思唯尔Atlas奖(Elsevier Atlas Award)，该奖项表彰可能或者已经对世界各地人们的生活产生重大影响的研究。
意大利国家研究委员会(National Research Council)水资源研究所的微生物生态学家Paola Grenni博士说:“抗生素的浓度非常非常低，在自然环境中发现的这些分子通常只有纳克的含量。但抗生素和其他药物即使在低浓度的状态下也能产生影响，即所谓的环境副作用。”


当人们服用抗生素时，他们的身体会分解并代谢一部分药物，其余的被排出并进入废水。因为污水处理厂的设计并不是为了完全清除抗生素或其他药物化合物，所以这些化合物的大部分都能到达环境生态系统，并在这些系统中积累和伤害环境中的微生物。


Grenni说，这是一个很大的问题，因为在环境中发现的许多微生物菌群都是有益的，它们在营养、初级生产和气候调节的自然循环中扮演着重要的角色。一些微生物也会降解有机污染物，比如农药。


Grenni和同事们Valeria Ancona博士及Anna Barra Caracciolo博士发表的评论文章，强调了常用的抗生素化合物及其活性成分。其中一些药物是用来治疗人类的，其他许多用于兽医，特别是用于治疗包括牛、猪和其他家畜。


将抗生素释放到环境生态系统中是一个“身边发生的药敏试验”，其后果尚不完全清楚。Grenni和她的同事们认为，鉴于它们对生态系统运作的重要性，有必要对环境微生物进行更具体的保护。


对于各国来说，努力减少不必要的抗生素使用和对环境中排放抗生素是非常重要的。为此，应努力使污水处理厂具备清除这些化合物的能力，并制定改善抗生素一旦到达自然环境后降解的方法。市民只有在真正需要时才能使用抗生素，并妥善处置过期的药物。


Grenni补充道：“虽然这一领域只有少数研究人员，但这非常重要。我们需要知道我们使用的不同抗生素在环境中的影响，我们还需要在这个领域进行更多的研究。


来源:爱思唯尔


原文:
Antibiotics Come With Environmental Side Effects, Experts Say
 
Researchers writing in Microchemical Journal are bringing attention to the fact that commonly used antibiotic drugs are making their way out into the environment, where they can harm microbes that are essential to a healthy environment. Their review article has been selected for the Elsevier Atlas Award, which recognizes research that could significantly impact people's lives around the world or has already done so.
"The amount of antibiotics is very, very low -- there are normally nanograms per liter of these molecules found in natural environments," said Dr. Paola Grenni, a microbial ecologist at the National Research Council's Water Research Institute in Italy. "But the antibiotics and also other pharmaceuticals can have an effect even in low concentrations, the so-called environmental side-effects."
When people take antibiotics, their bodies break down and metabolize only a portion of the drugs. The rest is excreted and enters wastewater. Because wastewater treatment plants aren't designed to fully remove antibiotic or other pharmaceutical compounds, many of those compounds reach natural systems where they can accumulate and harm microbes in nature.
That's a big concern, Grenni said, because many microbial species found in the environment are beneficial, playing important roles in natural cycles of nutrients, primary production and climate regulation. Some microbes also degrade organic contaminants, such as pesticides.
The review paper published by Grenni along with colleagues Drs. Valeria Ancona and Anna Barra Caracciolo highlights commonly used antibiotic compounds and their active ingredients. Some of those medications are used to treat people. Many others are used in veterinary medicine, especially to treat farm animals including cattle, pigs and poultry.
The release of antibiotics into natural systems is a "real-life experiment" with consequences that aren't yet fully known. Grenni and her colleagues say there's a need for more specific protections of environmental microbes given their importance to functioning ecosystems.
It's important for nations to work to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use and the release of those antibiotics that are needed into the environment. To that end, efforts should be made to equip wastewater treatment plants for removal of those compounds and to devise methods to improve the degradation of antibiotics once they reach natural environments. Members of the public can help by taking care to use antibiotics only when they are truly needed, and by disposing of expired medications properly.
"There are only a few researchers working in this field, but it's very important," Grenni said. "We need to know the different molecules we normally use that are in the environment and the effect they have. We need more research in this field."
Source: Elsevier
图文编辑：小小牧童

审稿：陈文森 卢先雷