Occurrence of antibiotics in the aquatic environment

The recent monitoring of drug residues in the aquatic environment has gained much interest as many pharmaceutical compounds can frequently be found in sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents and river water at concentrations up to several microgram/l. This article describes the analysis of various water samples for 18 antibiotic substances, from the classes of macrolid antibiotics, sulfonamides, penicillins and tetracyclines. Samples were preconcentrated via lyophilization and quantified using HPLC-electrospray-tandem-mass spectrometry. The investigated STP effluents and surface water samples showed frequent appearance of an erythromycin degradation product, roxithromycin and sulfamethoxazol…