Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 19, 2026
16:02
Demonstration of the Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility Tool for Rapid Assessment of Protein Conservation
Published on: February 10, 2023
Pharmaceutical Pollutants in Urban Rats Are Linked to Zoonotic Infection Risk
Anna Jonsson Sundberg1, Daniel Cerveny1,2, Federico Costa3,4
1Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden.
Environmental Science & Technology Letters
|May 18, 2026
Summary
Pharmaceutical pollution impacts wildlife disease. In urban rats, common drug residues like azithromycin and citalopram were linked to altered risks of zoonotic infections, affecting human health.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Ecotoxicology
- Zoonotic Disease Epidemiology
Background:
- Pharmaceutical pollution is a global environmental concern affecting wildlife.
- The impact of pharmaceutical pollution on wildlife disease, particularly zoonotic infections, is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in urban rats.
- To determine the association between API exposure and zoonotic infections in rats.
Main Methods:
- Collected 152 rats (Rattus norvegicus and R. rattus) from urban communities in Salvador, Brazil.
- Analyzed rat brain tissue for 97 APIs and common zoonotic pathogens (Leptospira spp., Seoul orthohantavirus, Toxoplasma gondii, Capillaria spp., Angiostrongylus spp.).
Main Results:
- APIs were detected in 55.3% of rat brain tissues, confirming uptake in wild terrestrial mammals.
- Leptospira infection prevalence was 91% lower in rats with azithromycin.
- Citalopram exposure was associated with a 3-fold increase in Capillaria infection risk.
Conclusions:
- Environmental APIs in urban rats are linked to variations in zoonotic infection risk.
- Pharmaceutical pollution represents a novel pathway influencing urban disease dynamics and potentially impacting public health.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Reservoir of Infection
Infectious diseases arise from intricate interactions between pathogens and their reservoirs. A reservoir of infection refers to the natural habitat where a pathogen lives, grows, and multiplies, serving as a continual source of infection. Reservoirs are broadly classified as either living or nonliving, and each plays a unique role in disease transmission, significantly influencing public health interventions and control strategies.Humans act as reservoirs for a wide array of pathogens,...
01:36Types of Toxins
Humans continually engage with an environment rich in potentially harmful chemicals. These are introduced to our bodies through inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact. These chemicals exist in various forms, such as air and environmental pollutants, agricultural chemicals, organic solvents, and heavy metals.
Air pollutants, primarily gases, pose significant threats to respiratory health, leading to conditions like hypoxia, lung cancer, and in extreme cases, death.
Environmental pollutants like...
Air pollutants, primarily gases, pose significant threats to respiratory health, leading to conditions like hypoxia, lung cancer, and in extreme cases, death.
Environmental pollutants like...
01:23Toxicity Testing in Animals
Toxicity tests in animals are grounded on two main assumptions: first, the effects observed in laboratory animals can be extrapolated to humans, especially when adjusted for body surface area; second, high-dose exposure in animals is essential to identify potential human hazards from lower doses. This is based on the quantal dose-response concept, which faces the challenge of extrapolating results from relatively few test animals to much larger human populations. For example, a 0.01% incidence...
00:57Viral Recombination
Cells are sometimes infected by more than one virus at once. When two viruses disassemble to expose their genomes for replication in the same cell, similar regions of their genomes can pair together and exchange sequences in a process called recombination. Alternatively, viruses with segmented genomes can swap segments in a process called reassortment.