Environmental Fate and Transport of Veterinary Antibiotics

The Tower is an official publication of the Georgia Tech Office of Student Media and is sponsored by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and the Georgia Tech Library. This article appeared in Volume 5, pages 21-25.Veterinary antibiotics such as ionophores and tetracyclines are commonly used in farming operations to prevent disease and promote growth rates in poultry, cattle, and swine. Since waste products from treated animals are used as fertilizers, there is a growing concern that these compounds may leach into the soil and water supply causing chronic low-level exposure to humans and leading to the development of antibiotic- resistant bacteria. Due to close structural similarities and physical properties, nigericin was determined to be an effective surrogate standard for the detection of the monensin, salinomycin, and narasin. Aluminum sulfate addition was considered as a potential treatment method to reduce antibiotic mobility, which resulted in an approximately 80% reduction of recovery rates for tetracyclines in poultry litter samples. Strong anion exchange cartridges were used in tandem with standard hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced cartridges which resulted in more rapid extractions and faster sample processing. Demeclocycline exhibited the potential to be used as a surrogate standard for tetracyclines due to close similarities in detection levels. This study has developed a method for detecting antibiotics in several types of environmental media and reinforced potential treatment methods as a means to reduce the risk of exposure to microcontaminants in the water supply.Office of Student Media; Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program; Georgia Tech Library