Antibiotics are widely used to prevent and treat bacterial infections in livestock animals, aquaculture, and humans. However, the\nunconditional use of those drugs as a growth promoter for livestock animals and the wrong usage as a treatment for infections\nin humans has led to high antibiotics pollution, especially in water resources. The elevated presence of antibiotics in water has\nresulted in the phenomenon known as the bacterial antibiotics resistance. To prevent ecological catastrophe, continuous real time\nmonitoring of water sources is necessary. The aim of this research work is to compare the abilities of three different\ntechniques: novel electromagnetic wave spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and capacitance sensing system for the real time\ndetection and quantification of antibiotics in water. Tylosin and lincomycin antibiotics were selected to the study, as both\nare regularly found in water sources. Two novel microwave sensor configurations were used: a planar sensor with interdigitated\nelectrode pattern and a hairpin resonator sensor, as a means of real-time water analysis. Reflected S11 power signals were\nanalyzed in GHz frequency range for microwave sensors. In parallel, UV-Vis spectrophotometry was used, where change in the\noptical absorbance was used as an indicator of water pollution, whereas change in the value of a capacitance in low frequency\nrange has signalled the change in the dielectric properties of the solution. It was found that in all cases the changes in the\nmeasured parameters were dependent on both the type of antibiotic present in water and on its concentration. Fusion of all\nthese techniques into a comprehensive sensing platform provides adequate real-time assessment of the water pollution with\nantibiotics and would allow adequate management of environment for safety and sustainable development. In particular, the\nlowest lincomycin samplesâ?? concentration, 0.25 ..g/l, was measured with a hairpin resonator sensor, while the lowest tylosin\nsamplesâ?? concentration, 0.20 ..g/l, was measured with an IDE sensor. Since concentration in groundwater were 0.36 ..g/l of\nlincomycin and 1.5 ..g/l of tylosin, it is demonstrating a high-sensing platform utility.
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