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Temporal profile of illicit drug consumption in Guangzhou, China monitored by wastewater-based epidemiology

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Abstract

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been widely used as a complementary method for estimating consumption of illicit drugs in the population. Temporal drug consumption estimates derived from WBE can provide important information for law enforcement and public health authorities in understanding changes in supply and demand of illicit drugs, but currently lacking in China. In this study, influent wastewater samples from a municipal sewage treatment plant in Guangzhou, China were collected for 8 weeks to investigate the temporal change in consumption of six illicit drugs in the catchment. The results indicated that methamphetamine and ketamine were the dominant illicit drugs in Guangzhou with the per capita use of 14.7–470.7 mg/day/1000 people and 64.9–673.7 mg/day/1000 people, respectively. No distinct weekly patterns were observed for illicit drug consumption in Guangzhou, indicating that drug users are likely to be regular ones. Further assessment about the impact of public holidays on the consumption behavior of drugs showed little impact for ketamine (p = 0.689), but higher consumptions of methamphetamine (p = 0.003) and cocaine (p = 0.027) were observed during public holidays than the control period. The considerable decrease in drug consumption observed in October 2017 compared with January and May 2017 was possibly the consequence of law enforcement action.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41877466) and Research Fund of SIT of Guangzhou (Grant No. 201707010158). Some of the data reported in this paper was obtained at the Central Analytical Research Facility operated by the Institute for Future Environments (QUT). Access to CARF is supported by generous funding from the Science and Engineering Faculty (QUT). Yuan Ren was funded by the State Scholarship Fund as a Senior Visiting Fellow by CSC. Jianfa Gao received an ARC scholarship (DP150100645). Phong K. Thai was funded by the QUT VC Fellowship in part of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Higher Education Mega Center, Panyu District, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaohan Zhang, Ping Li & Yuan Ren

  2. Guangzhou Sewage Purification Co., Ltd, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Riheng Huang

  3. The Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Yuan Ren

  4. The Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection and Eco-Remediation of Guangdong Regular Higher Education Institutions, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Yuan Ren

  5. Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Science (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD, 4102, Australia

    Jianfa Gao, Jochen F. Mueller & Phong K Thai

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  1. Xiaohan Zhang
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  2. Riheng Huang
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  3. Ping Li
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  4. Yuan Ren
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  5. Jianfa Gao
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  6. Jochen F. Mueller
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  7. Phong K Thai
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Correspondence to Yuan Ren or Jianfa Gao.

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Zhang, X., Huang, R., Li, P. et al. Temporal profile of illicit drug consumption in Guangzhou, China monitored by wastewater-based epidemiology. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 23593–23602 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05575-3

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