Sea turtles have been proposed as health indicators of marine habitats and carriers of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, for their longevity and migratory lifestyle. Up to now, a few studies evaluated the antibacterial resistant flora of Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) and most of them were carried out on stranded or recovered animals. In this study, the isolation and the antibiotic resistance profile of 90 Gram negative bacteria from cloacal swabs of 33 Mediterranean wild captured loggerhead sea turtles are described. Among sea turtles found in their foraging sites, 23 were in good health and 10 needed recovery for different health problems (hereafter named weak). Isolated cloacal bacteria belonged mainly to Enterobacteriaceae (59%), Shewanellaceae (31%) and Vibrionaceae families (5%). Although slight differences in the bacterial composition, healthy and weak sea turtles shared antibiotic-resistant strains. In total, 74 strains were endowed with one or multi resistance (up to five different drugs) phenotypes, mainly towards ampicillin (~70%) or sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (more than 30%). Hence, our results confirmed the presence of antibiotic-resistant strains also in healthy marine animals and the role of the loggerhead sea turtles in spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

In recent years, microplastic pollution has been a hot topic as these compounds have been used in various production contexts such as health, food or technology due to their chemical and physical properties and “shelf-life,” making them almost indispensable products in daily life. On the other hand, they have a negative impact on the environment and, consequently, on biota and human health. It is therefore necessary to assess the actual presence of microplastics in drinking water by analysing real samples in order to estimate the possible exposure through drinking water consumption. In this pilot study, drinking water from different aqueous matrices was examined for the presence of microplastics and characterized in terms of shape, size, abundance and polymer type by Raman microspectroscopy analysis. Not all samples analysed were found to be contaminated with microplastics, indeed, some, as in the case of water kiosk samples, were found to be free of such contaminants. The results for the various matrices showed that the microplastics content ranged from less than 2 particles/L to a maximum of 5 + 1.5 particles/L, with sizes ranging from 30 to 100 μm and consisted of the most common polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene or polyethylene terephthalate.

The presence of phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in marine environments is an important issue. These chemicals are able to affect marine organisms, particularly marine turtles, and to act as endocrine disrupters. In this paper, for the first time, a simple and reproducible analytical method based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled with gas chromatography—ion trap/mass spectrometry (GC-IT/MS) was developed for the extraction of phthalates from the blood of marine turtles. The extraction was obtained by using C₁₈ phthalates-free as the stationary phase. In order to individuate the best working conditions for the extraction, the adsorption isotherms and breakthrough curves were studied. The overall analytical methodology was validated in terms of limit of detection (LOD, 0.08–0.6 ng mL⁻¹), limit of quantification (LOQ, 0.4–0.8 ng mL⁻¹), and correlation coefficients (>0.9933). By using this procedure, percentage recoveries ranging from 89 to 103% were achieved. The precision parameters (intra-day and inter-day) were studied, and the obtained values were smaller than 12.5%. These data confirm the goodness of the proposed analytical methodology, which is applied to real samples.