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An overview on the prevalence and potential impact of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance in the aquatic environment of India

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Abstract

India at present is one of the leading countries in antimicrobial drug production and use, leading to increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and public health problems. Attention has mainly been focused on the human and food animals’ contribution to AMR neglecting the potential contribution of the perceptibly degraded aquatic environment in India. The paper reviews the available published literature in India on the prevalence of antimicrobial residues and their dissemination pathways in wastewater of pharmaceutical industries, sewage treatment plants, hospitals, riverine, community pond water, and groundwater. The prevalence of antimicrobial residue concentration, pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB), their drug resistance levels, and their specific antimicrobial resistant genes (ARGs) occurring in various water matrices of India have been comprehensively depicted from existing literature. The concentration of some widely used antimicrobials recorded from the sewage treatment plants and hospital wastewater and rivers in India has been compared with other countries. The ecotoxicological risk posed by these antimicrobials in the various water matrices in India indicated high hazard quotient (HQ) values for pharmaceutical effluents, hospital effluents, and river water. The degraded aquatic environment exhibited the selection of a wide array of co-existent resistant genes for antibiotics and metals. The review revealed improper use of antibiotics and inadequate wastewater treatment as major drivers of AMR contaminating water bodies in India and suggestion for containing the challenges posed by AMR in India has been proposed.

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Data Availability

A comprehensive search was conducted through PubMed, Science Direct Google Scholar, Research Gate, and Google for articles relevant to the review topic. It included journal articles, reports, books, and other authentic national and international published materials. From these articles we extracted, highlighted, and compared appropriate information for the preparation of our paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700120, India

    Manas Kumar Das

  2. Department of Veterinary Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, West Bengal University of Animal & Fishery Sciences, 37, K. B. Sarani, Belgachia, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700037, India

    Subhasree Das

  3. Department of Aquaculture, DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, 273009, India

    Pankaj Kumar Srivastava

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Manas Kumar Das: conceived the review outline, literature search, drafted the manuscript, review and editing of the paper.

Subhasree Das: conceived the review outline, literature search, drafted the manuscript, review and editing of the paper.

Pankaj Kumar Srivastava: conceived the review outline, prepared figures, review and editing of the paper.

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Correspondence to Manas Kumar Das.

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Das, M.K., Das, S. & Srivastava, P.K. An overview on the prevalence and potential impact of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance in the aquatic environment of India. Environ Monit Assess 195, 1015 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11569-z

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