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Review
. 2023 Jan 1;216(Pt 1):114434.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114434. Epub 2022 Oct 7.

A review on enhanced microplastics derived from biomedical waste during the COVID-19 pandemic with its toxicity, health risks, and biomarkers

Rony Ibne Masud  1 , Kamrul Hassan Suman  2 , Shadia Tasnim  1 , Most Shirina Begum  3 , Mahmudul Hasan Sikder  4 , Md Jamal Uddin  5 , Md Niamul Haque  6
Affiliations
Review

A review on enhanced microplastics derived from biomedical waste during the COVID-19 pandemic with its toxicity, health risks, and biomarkers

Rony Ibne Masud et al. Environ Res. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the explosion of biomedical waste, a global challenge to public health and the environment. Biomedical waste comprising plastic can convert into microplastics (MPs, < 5 mm) by sunlight, wave, oxidative and thermal processes, and biodegradation. MPs with additives and contaminants such as metals are also hazardous to many aquatic and terrestrial organisms, including humans. Bioaccumulation of MPs in organisms often transfers across the trophic level in the global food web. Thus, this article aims to provide a literature review on the source, quantity, and fate of biomedical waste, along with the recent surge of MPs and their adverse impact on aquatic and terrestrial organisms. MPs intake (ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact) in humans causing various chronic diseases involving multiple organs in digestive, respiratory, and reproductive systems are surveyed, which have been reviewed barely. There is an urgent need to control and manage biomedical waste to shrink MPs pollution for reducing environmental and human health risks.

Keywords: Bioaccumulation; Biomarkers; Biomedical waste; COVID-19; Human health; Microplastics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Illustration of plastic-made biomedical waste during COVID-19 and how the biomedical waste transforms into MPs through the biological (biodegradation) and non-biological (oxidative degradation, wave and turbulence, and ultraviolet ray) processes before reaching the environment.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A schematic diagram of how microplastics enter into the human body and the potential impact on the various organs and systems (digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular, skin, reproductive, nervous, and immune).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
A plausible mechanism of translocation and accumulation of MPs in various organisms (i.e., producer to consumer, prey to predator) in a food chain with their subsequent bioaccumulation in the human body. MPs can induce cellular dysfunction by inducing oxidative stress and ROS production and lead to cell membrane damage, DNA disruption, elevated histamine, mitochondrial damage, and induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α (Modified and adapted from (Lu et al., 2019; Yong et al., 2020; Suman et al., 2021).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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