article · International Journal of Environment and Health
An assessment of wastewater from the production of cotrimoxazole and Piriton examined bacterial loads, chemical parameters, and genotoxicity. Testing on Allium cepa root cells revealed chromosomal abnormalities, including disturbed spindles, chromosome bridges, and vagrant chromosomes, alongside a dose-dependent reduction in cell division and root growth. While most physico-chemical parameters remained within allowable limits, both effluents harboured dense bacterial populations of approximately ten million colony-forming units per millilitre, likely supported by high sulphate, nitrate, and phosphate levels. Isolated species included Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and other pathogens. The bacteria displayed widespread antibiotic resistance, reaching one hundred percent resistance to augmentin, amoxycillin, cloxacillin, and nalidixic acid. Multiple drug resistance was prevalent, with isolates exhibiting resistance patterns spanning between five and eleven different antibiotics.
Releasing untreated pharmaceutical manufacturing wastewater into the environment introduces toxic substances that can disrupt plant cell division and genetic stability. Furthermore, high bacterial loads coupled with extreme levels of multi-drug antibiotic resistance pose substantial hazards to surrounding ecosystems and public health, demonstrating that conventional physico-chemical compliance checks alone may not guarantee the safety of pharmaceutical discharges.
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Wastewaters from two pharmaceutical production processes, cotrimoxazole B wastewater (BWW) and Piriton wastewater (PWW), were examined microbiologically and for physico-chemical parameters. Furthermore, the wastewaters were also screened for genotoxicity using Allium cepa assay to assess the risk associated with the discharge of untreated pharmaceutical wastewaters into the environment. The effluents induced various types of chromosomal aberrations, namely, disturbed spindle, vagrant and chromosome bridge, and also showed a dose-dependent reduction in the number of dividing cells. The mitotic inhibition ranged from 38.6 to 67.2%. The mean root length at 20% of BWW and all concentrations except 1% of PWW were significantly different from the control values (p < 0.05). The EC50 of the root growth inhibition was 4.17 and 12.45% for PWW and BWW, respectively. The wastewater physico-chemical analysis revealed that most parameters were within the allowable limits. The wastewaters had similar microbial load index of 107 cfu ml−1, indicating dense populations of bacteria, which may be due to the richness of the wastewaters in nutrients particularly sulphate, nitrate and phosphate. Coliform bacteria concentrations in the PWW and BWW wastewaters were 50MPN/100 ml and 550MPN/100 ml, respectively. The identified bacterial isolates included Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens, Klebsiella sp, Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus licheniformis, Yersinia sp, Proteus vulgaris and Bacillus subtilis. The resistance of the bacterial isolates ranged from 10% for gentamicin to 100% for augmentin, amoxycillin, cloxacillin and nalidixic acid. PWW isolates were more resistant. Seven patterns of multiple drug resistance ranging from 5 to 11 antibiotics were obtained amongst the isolates.
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DOI: 10.1504/ijenvh.2007.018572
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