Waterborne pathogens including viruses, bacteria and micropollutants secreted from population can spread through the sewerage system. In this study, the efficiency of unique effervescent ferrate-based tablets was evaluated for total RNA and DNA removal, disinfection and degradation of micropollutants in hospital wastewater. For the purpose of testing, proposed tablets (based on citric acid or sodium dihydrogen phosphate) were used for various types of hospital wastewater with specific biological and chemical contamination. Total RNA destruction efficiency using tablets was 70-100% depending on the type of acidic component. DNA destruction efficiency was lower on the level 51-94% depending on the type of acidic component. In addition, our study confirms that effervescent ferrate-based tablets are able to efficiently remove of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater. Degradation of often detected micropollutants (antiepileptic, antidepressant, antihistamine, hypertensive and their metabolites) was dependent on the type of detected pharmaceuticals and on the acidic component used. Sodium dihydrogen phosphate based tablet appeared to be more effective than citric acid based tablet and removed some pharmaceuticals with efficiency higher than 97%. Last but not least, the disinfection ability was also verified. Tableted ferrates were confirmed to be an effective disinfectant and no resistant microorganisms were observed after treatment. Total and antibiotic resistant bacteria (coliforms and enterococci) were determined by cultivation on diagnostic selective agar growth media.

• Keywords
• Antibiotic resistant bacteria, Ferrate(VI), Pharmaceuticals, SARS-CoV-2, Wastewater treatment,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

Municipal wastewaters can generally provide real-time information on drug consumption, the incidence of specific diseases, or establish exposure to certain agents and determine some lifestyle consequences. From this point of view, wastewater-based epidemiology represents a modern diagnostic tool for describing the health status of a certain part of the population in a specific region. Hospital wastewater is a complex mixture of pharmaceuticals, illegal drugs, and their metabolites as well as different susceptible and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, including viruses. Many studies pointed out that wastewater from healthcare facilities (including hospital wastewater), significantly contributes to higher loads of micropollutants, including bacteria and viruses, in municipal wastewater. In addition, such a mixture can increase the selective pressure on bacteria, thus contributing to the development and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. Because many pharmaceuticals, drugs, and microorganisms can pass through wastewater treatment plants without any significant change in their structure and toxicity and enter surface waters, treatment technologies need to be improved. This short review summarizes the recent knowledge from studies on micropollutants, pathogens, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and viruses (including SARS-CoV-2) in wastewater from healthcare facilities. It also proposes several possibilities for improving the wastewater treatment process in terms of efficiency as well as economy.

• Keywords
• SARS-CoV-2, antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, antimicrobial resistance genes, hospital wastewater treatment, pharmaceuticals,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Review MeSH

Various types of micropollutants, e.g., pharmaceuticals and their metabolites and resistant strains of pathogenic microorganisms, are usually found in hospital wastewaters. The aim of this paper was to study the presence of 74 frequently used pharmaceuticals, legal and illegal drugs, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in 5 hospital wastewaters in Slovakia and Czechia and to compare the efficiency of several advanced oxidations processes (AOPs) for sanitation and treatment of such highly polluted wastewaters. The occurrence of micropollutants and antibiotic-resistant bacteria was investigated by in-line SPE-LC-MS/MS technique and cultivation on antibiotic and antibiotic-free selective diagnostic media, respectively. The highest maximum concentrations were found for cotinine (6700 ng/L), bisoprolol (5200 ng/L), metoprolol (2600 ng/L), tramadol (2400 ng/L), sulfamethoxazole (1500 ng/L), and ranitidine (1400 ng/L). In the second part of the study, different advanced oxidation processes, modified Fenton reaction, ferrate(VI), and oxidation by boron-doped diamond electrode were tested in order to eliminate the abovementioned pollutants. Obtained results indicate that the modified Fenton reaction and application of boron-doped diamond electrode were able to eliminate almost the whole spectrum of selected micropollutants with efficiency higher than 90%. All studied methods achieved complete removal of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria present in hospital wastewaters.

• Keywords
• Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, Boron-doped diamond electrode, Fenton-like reaction, Ferrate(VI), Hospital effluents characterization, Wastewater,
• MeSH
• Drug Resistance, Bacterial MeSH
• Boron MeSH
• Water Pollutants, Chemical analysis   MeSH
• Chromatography, Liquid MeSH
• Diamond MeSH
• Electrodes MeSH
• Pharmaceutical Preparations analysis   MeSH
• Hospitals MeSH
• Waste Disposal, Fluid instrumentation   methods   MeSH
• Wastewater analysis   chemistry   microbiology   MeSH
• Oxidation-Reduction MeSH
• Hydrogen Peroxide chemistry   MeSH
• Tandem Mass Spectrometry MeSH
• Illicit Drugs analysis   MeSH
• Medical Waste MeSH
• Iron chemistry   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH
• Slovakia MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Boron MeSH
• Water Pollutants, Chemical MeSH
• Diamond MeSH
• Fenton's reagent MeSH Browser
• ferrate ion MeSH Browser
• Pharmaceutical Preparations MeSH
• Waste Water MeSH
• Hydrogen Peroxide MeSH
• Illicit Drugs MeSH
• Medical Waste MeSH
• Iron MeSH