New Telegraph

Pollution raises antibiotic resistance risk

Researchers from the University of Georgia in the United States (US) have found antibiotic resistance was not only caused by the overuse of antibiotics. Using a process known as genomic analysis, the researchers were able to establish a strong link between antibiotic resistance and heavy metal contamination in the environment and said pollution may play a role in antibiotic resistance. According to the study, published in the journal ‘Microbial Biotechnology,’ soils with heavy metals had a higher level of specific bacterial hosts that were accompanied by antibioticresistant genes.

Jesse C. Thomas IV, an alumnus of the College of Public Health and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, found commonalities in soils contaminated with heavy metals on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. Hosts included Acidobacteriaoceae, Bradyrhizobium and Streptomyces.

The bacteria had antibiotic- resistant genes, known as ARGs, for vancomycin, bacitracin and polymyxin. All three drugs are used to treat infections in humans. The bacteria also had an ARG for multidrug resistance, a strong defense gene that can resist heavy metals as well as antibiotics, according to Thomas, who was conducting his doctoral research at the time. When these ARGs were present in the soil, metalresistant genes, or MRGs, were present for several metals including arsenic, copper, cadmium and zinc.

Thomas, currently a biologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said microorganisms develop new strategies and countermeasures over time to protect themselves, reported the ‘Science Daily’. It was clear that there were several human pathogens that develop antibiotic resistance —

overuse is not the only cause, according to Thomas. Human activities like agriculture and the combustion of fossil fuels play a role. “We need a better understanding of how bacteria are evolving over time,” he said. “This can impact our drinking water and our food and eventually our health.” Thomas said, “The overuse of antibiotics in the environment adds additional selection pressure on microorganisms that accelerates their ability to resist multiple classes of antibiotics. “But antibiotics aren’t the only source of selection pressure,” he said. “Many bacteria possess genes that simultaneously work on multiple compounds that would be toxic to the cell, and this includes metals.”

Read Previous

COVID-19: Prioritise nutrition, Aisha Buhari tells govt

Read Next

I’ve not resigned, says EBSU VC

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *