Wastewater testing could be affected by flu pandemic

The process of wastewater testing could be undermined by plans to use antivirals and antibiotics should a flu pandemic occur.

It is feared that the overall water quality of rivers across the UK may be adversely affected by the release of the medication into waterways, Medical News Today reports.

Experts believe that the existence of antibiotics could lead to ineffective treatment of wastewater.

This issue was raised following research by a number of organisations from the UK, US, Holland and Italy, with the findings expected to be documented in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal.

Lead author from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Dr Andrew Singer feels that a greater knowledge of wastewater treatment needs to be sought, but he also suggested that flu vaccines could be a possible solution.

"The production and successful distribution of pre-pandemic and pandemic influenza vaccines could go a long way towards alleviating all of the identified environmental and human health problems highlighted in our paper," he observed.

Flu injections may become easier to distribute as Medical News Today noted that the US department of health and human services has won two contracts to enable it to provide faster vaccinations during flu outbreaks.

Posted by Joseph Hutton