Monitoring the exposure and emissions of antibiotic resistance: Co-occurrence of antibiotics and resistance genes in wastewater treatment plants.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new momentum to 'wastewater-based epidemiology' (WBE). This approach can be applied to monitor the levels of antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs), which in terms are used to make inferences about the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in human settlements. However, there is still little information about temporal variability in ARG levels measured in wastewater streams and how these influence the inferences made about the occurrence of AMR in communities.

Spatial and temporal assessment of crack cocaine use in 13 European cities through wastewater-based epidemiology.

Already in early 2000s, concerns have been growing in the EU about increasing use of cocaine and it is estimated that below 1 % of the population administer the drug by smoking crack cocaine. New available data suggests an increase in the use of crack cocaine and an increase in the number of crack cocaine users entering treatment has been reported in several European countries. Robust estimations of crack cocaine use are however not available yet.

Changes in drug use in European cities during early COVID-19 lockdowns - A snapshot from wastewater analysis.

The COVID-19 outbreak has forced countries to introduce severe restrictive measures to contain its spread. In particular, physical distancing and restriction of movement have had important consequences on human behaviour and potentially also on illicit drug use and supply. These changes can be associated with additional risks for users, in particular due to reduced access to prevention and harm reduction activities.

International snapshot of new psychoactive substance use: Case study of eight countries over the 2019/2020 new year period.

There is considerable concern around the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS), but still little is known about how much they are really consumed. Analysis by forensics laboratories of seized drugs and post-mortem samples as well as hospital emergency rooms are the first line of identifying both 'new' NPS and those that are most dangerous to the community. However, NPS are not necessarily all seized by law enforcement agencies and only substances that contribute to fatalities or serious afflictions are recorded in post-mortem and emergency room samples.

Multi-approach assessment for the evaluation of spatio-temporal estrogenicity in fish from effluent-dominated surface waters under low instream flow.

Current practices employed by most wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are unable to completely remove endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) from reclaimed waters, and consistently discharge these substances to receiving systems. Effluent-dominated and dependent surface waters, especially during low instream flows, can increase exposure and risks to aquatic organisms due to adverse biological effects associated with EDCs. Given the ecological implications that may arise from exposure to such compounds, the present a multi-approach study examined spatio-temporal estrogenic potential of wastewater effluent to fish in East Canyon Creek (ECC), Utah, USA, a unique urban river with instream flows seasonally influenced by snowmelt.

Pharmaceutical uptake kinetics in rainbow trout: In situ bioaccumulation in an effluent-dominated river influenced by snowmelt.

Whether seasonal instream flow dynamics influence bioaccumulation of pharmaceuticals by fish is not well understood, specifically for urban lotic systems in semi-arid regions when flows are influenced by snowmelt. We examined uptake of select pharmaceuticals in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) caged in situ upstream and at incremental distances downstream (0.1, 1.