High concentration and high dose of disinfectants and antibiotics used during the COVID-19 pandemic threaten human health

Zhongli Chen; Jinsong Guo; Yanxue Jiang; Ying Shao

doi:10.1186/s12302-021-00456-4

High concentration and high dose of disinfectants and antibiotics used during the COVID-19 pandemic threaten human health

Environ Sci Eur. 2021;33(1):11. doi: 10.1186/s12302-021-00456-4. Epub 2021 Jan 29.

Authors

Zhongli Chen¹, Jinsong Guo¹, Yanxue Jiang¹, Ying Shao¹

Affiliation

¹ Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Eco-Environment, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045 People's Republic of China.

Abstract

The issue of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has created enormous threat to global health. In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, a huge amount of disinfectants and antibiotics have been utilized on public health. Accordingly, the concentration of disinfectants and antibiotics is increasing rapidly in various environments, including wastewater, surface waters, soils and sediments. The aims of this study were to analyze the potential ecological environment impacts of disinfectants and antibiotics by summarizing their utilization, environmental occurrence, distribution and toxicity. The paper highlights the promoting effects of disinfectants and antibiotics on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and even antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB). The scientific evidences indicate that the high concentration and high dose of disinfectants and antibiotics promote the evolution toward antimicrobial resistance through horizontal gene transformation and vertical gene transformation, which threaten human health. Further concerns should be focused more on the enrichment, bioaccumulation and biomagnification of disinfectants, antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and even antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) in human bodies.