Water for injection is water of extra high quality without significant contamination. A

sterile Sterile or sterility may refer to: *Asepsis, a state of being free from biological contaminants * Sterile (archaeology), a sediment deposit which contains no evidence of human activity *Sterilization (microbiology), any process that eliminates or ...

version is used for making solutions that will be given by injection. Before such use other substances generally must be added to make the solution more or less isotonic. It can be given by injection into a vein,

muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscl ...

, or under the skin. A non-sterile version may be used in manufacturing with sterilization occurring later in the production process. If it is given by injection into a vein without making it approximately isotonic, breakdown of red blood cells may occur. This can then result in kidney problems. Excessive amount may also result in

fluid overload Hypervolemia, also known as fluid overload, is the medical condition where there is too much fluid in the blood. The opposite condition is hypovolemia, which is too little fluid volume in the blood. Fluid volume excess in the intravascular comp ...

. Water for injection is generally made by distillation or

reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...

. It should contain less than a mg of elements other than water per 100 ml. Versions with agents that stop bacterial growth are also available. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. Water for injection is available over the counter in the United States.

Other names

Water for injection is also known as or .

References

External links

Inspection Technical Guides Water for Pharmaceutical UseGuideline on the quality of water for pharmaceutical use (EMA, European Medicines Agency)
* {{portal bar, Medicine Intravenous fluids Water Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate World Health Organization essential medicines