{"id":59978,"date":"2021-12-01T12:41:05","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T10:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=59978"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:41:05","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T10:41:05","slug":"hiv-drugs-concentration-in-drinking-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/hiv-drugs-concentration-in-drinking-water\/","title":{"rendered":"HIV Drugs Concentration in Drinking Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Umamah Bakharia<\/p>\n

Today being World Aids Day has introduced research indicating that there might be HIV drug concentrations in our household water.<\/p>\n

However, most countries have almost no regulations restricting the levels of drugs in wastewater or in drinking water.<\/p>\n

Researchers at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) revealed that they had developed a method to detect two HIV drugs in South Africa\u2019s wastewater, rivers and streams.<\/p>\n

DSI\/NRF SARChI Chair: Nanotechnology for Water at UJ, Prof Philiswa Nomngongo,\u00a0spoke to Radio Islam, to discuss the possibility that medication is in our everyday drinking water.<\/p>\n

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DSI\/NRF SARChI Chair: Nanotechnology for Water at UJ, Prof Philiswa Nomngongo<\/p><\/div>\n

The \u2018Nanotechnology for Water at UJ research group has been monitoring pollutants in water when they discovered HIV drugs being present in the pollutant water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing this study because one day we would like to have a data to indicate if the HIV drugs are present in the water and to what extent,\u201d says Prof Nomngongo.<\/p>\n

In order to identify if the HIV drugs are in the water, missals in a lab have to be created to be able to extract the drugs from the water.<\/p>\n

At the moment, there is no data for South Africa but there is selected studies done on the dilation of HIV drugs in water.<\/p>\n

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Traces of medication has been found in wastewater, however, the concentration is low.<\/p><\/div>\n

An issue that the research is facing it that because consecutives testing needs to be done, testing costs are increasing. Therefore, the research is focused in Gauteng regions in the meantime.<\/p>\n

However, the research found that the concentration of drugs in our daily water usage is very low.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t really have that much of an impact on us, however, if they do come back to our taps, how [much comes back?],\u201d Prof Nomngongo says this what is of concern.<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cIt\u2019s not just a South African problem, it\u2019s a global problem whereby everything we use on our daily basis we relieve in our households [are] not completely removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

She advises that consumers should be careful on how pharmaceuticals are disposed in our households.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe forget that in the long run we are actually harming ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n