Antibiotics are regarded as developing pollutants of the aquatic environment which are capable of promoting the establishment as well as selection of resistance of antibiotics in the environment. However, wastewater treatment facilities and other waste management systems can partially remove antibiotic residues. Studies have noted that antibiotics are prevalent in the aquatic ecosystems of the World Health Organization Western Pacific region as well as the WHO South-East Asia region .
In this systematic study, a literature search was conducted to determine the antibiotic residue concentrations in the aquatic habitats of the WPR and the SEAR and to produce an assessment of probabilistic environmental hazards.
Results This systematic review that measured antibiotic residue levels in aquatic environments comprised 218 relevant studies out of 5,230 assessed from the WPR and 22 out of 2,625 screened studies from the SEAR, with the majority of these relevant research originating from India and China. In the WPR, almost 92 antibiotics were identified, whereas the SEAR identified 45 antibiotics.