Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42402418›Full record

ReviewEnvironmental health and preventive medicine2026

Occurrence of antibacterials, antivirals, and anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals for COVID-19 treatment as emerging contaminants in the Chinese freshwater environment before, during and after the pandemic: the need for dynamic eco-pharmacovigilance.

Sijia Ma, Hongxia Chen, Jun Wang

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Environmental health and preventive medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Sijia MaInstitute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Occupational Hazard Identification and Control, School of Medicine, Wuhan University of Science and Technology.
Hongxia ChenInstitute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Occupational Hazard Identification and Control, School of Medicine, Wuhan University of Science and Technology.
Jun WangInstitute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Occupational Hazard Identification and Control, School of Medicine, Wuhan University of Science and Technology.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGlobal epidemic diseases such as COVID-19 have driven both the excessive use of pharmaceuticals and shifts in their usage spectrum. Consequently, the profile of pharmaceuticals in the environment (PiE) may undergo dynamic temporal changes, posing a significant challenge to eco-pharmacovigilance (EPV), a specialized branch of pharmacovigilance focused on detecting, evaluating, understanding, and preventing the adverse environmental effects of pharmaceuticals.

methodsBased on data extracted from 89 studies published between 2014 and 2025, this review conducts a focused comparison of the occurrence patterns of 43 selected typical anti-COVID-19 drugs (20 antibacterials, 11 antivirals, and 12 anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals) as contaminants in distinct regions across China's seven major river basins before, during, and after the pandemic. The need of dynamic EPV was then analyzed.

resultsBefore the COVID-19 outbreak, erythromycin, ampicillin, roxithromycin, and acetaminophen dominated the PiE profile in terms of reported maximum residual concentrations; during the pandemic lockdown, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, azithromycin, and ketoprofen were identified as the top-priority anti-COVID-19 PiE; after the pandemic, azithromycin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and roxithromycin remained the dominant PiE. Residual levels of individual PiE at the same location varied noticeably across the three periods.

conclusionsResults revealed highly distinct regional and temporal variations in surface freshwater pollution by these COVID-19-associated PiE across the three periods, with no consistent regularity observed, thereby further highlighting the necessity of implementing EPV in a "dynamic" manner. Drawing on the framework of dynamic pharmacovigilance, the implementation of dynamic EPV can be promoted by establishing a dynamic watch-list mechanism, clarifying stakeholder roles, and advancing supportive policies and technological platforms, so as to enable adaptive interventions for the timely management of event-driven pharmaceutical pollution.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsAnti-Inflammatory AgentsAntiviral AgentsCOVID-19 Drug TreatmentFresh WaterPharmacovigilanceWater Pollutants, ChemicalChinaCOVID-19Environmental MonitoringHumansPandemicsSARS-CoV-2Anti-Bacterial AgentsAnti-Inflammatory AgentsAntiviral AgentsWater Pollutants, ChemicalAnti-COVID-19 drugsAquatic environmentEco-pharmacovigilanceEmerging contaminantsPharmaceuticals in the environment

Identifiers

PMID42402418
PMCPMC13366171

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.