Wastewater-based monitoring of illicit drugs in Cyprus by UPLC-MS/MS: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: The outbreak and spread of COVID-19 impacted through various ways the lives of millions of humans globally. In this work, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) was applied to investigate the effect of the actions taken by the Republic of Cyprus to confine COVID-19 on the use of illicit stimulant drugs. Daily influent samples were collected from the six main wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of the country i) before lockdown (3-9 April 2019), ii) during lockdown (21-27 April 2020), iii) during the post-lockdown period (14-20 July 2020), and, iv) during each season of the following year (20-26 April 2021, 19-25 July 2021, 11-17 October 2021, 25 December 2021-2 January 2022), and analyzed for amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine. In most areas, amphetamine and methamphetamine use wa

SUBMITTER: Psichoudaki M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9467927 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature