Microplastics could be raising resistance to antibiotics

Madrid. In a surprising discovery, a team of researchers from the University of Boston has observed how bacteria exposed to microplastics became resistant to various types of antibiotics that are commonly used to treat infections. In this way, in an article published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology They conclude that microplastics could be feeding the resistance to antibiotics.

They also insist that the situation is worrying for people living in impoverished and high density areas, where discarded plastic accumulates and bacterial infections spread easily.

It should be contextualized that microplastics are all over the planet. They have ascended by food chains, have accumulated in the oceans, have been grouped into the clouds and mountains and have been found in our body at an alarming pace. Scientists have been working hard to discover the unforeseen impacts of so much plastic inside and around us.

In the Zaman laboratory, the researchers proved how a common bacterium reacted, They exhibited chill (E. coli), Being in a closed environment with these waste. Plastics provide a surface to which bacteria adhere and colonizesays Neila Gross, main author of the study. Once fixed to any area, they create a biofilm, a sticky substance that acts as a shield, protecting them from the invaders and keeping them securely. Gross observed that the microplastic supercharged and when antibiotics were added to the mixture, the medication could not penetrate the shield.

We are demonstrating that the presence of plastics does much more than simply providing a surface for bacteria to adhere: they are actually causing the development of resistant organismsdetails Zaman, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering at Boston University, whose mission is to improve the lives of displaced people worldwide.

Previous investigations have discovered that refugees, asylum seekers and populations displaced by force run a greater risk of contracting drugs resistant to medications, because they live in overcrowded camps and have greater barriers to receive medical care.