The disintegrated polystyrene pieces are a carrier for the genes of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
- Nanometers measure between 100 nanometers and five micrometers in diameter.
- Microplastics contribute to resistance to antibiotics, even when they are not in contact with them.
- In France, more than 5,500 deaths were linked to infections with resistant bacteria in 2015.
Microplastic pollution is a threat to the environment, but also to our health. According to recent research, published in the specialist journal Journal of Hazardous Materials, these particles contribute to antibiotic resistance, one of the serious threats to global health. “An increasing number of infections, such as pneumonia, tuberculosis or gonorrhea, salmonellosis, are becoming more difficult to treat, as the antibiotics used to treat them lose their effectiveness“, explains theWorld Health Organization. According to scientists from the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University in Texas, polystyrene broken down into microplastics is a home not only for microbes and chemical contaminants, but also for floating genetic material that makes resistant bacteria.
Plastics degraded by ultraviolet rays
The study authors describe how ultraviolet aging of microplastics in the environment transforms these pieces of plastic into suitable platforms for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). These genes are reinforced by bacterial chromosomes, phages and plasmids, which are biological vectors that can transmit antibiotic resistance to humans. Scientists have found that microplastics, aged by the ultraviolet part of sunlight, trap microbes. As plastics degrade, they also release depolymerization chemicals that penetrate the membranes of microbes, giving ARGs the ability to spread. The surface of this plastic debris thus becomes a potential development site for bacteria: as they are in contact, the transfer of genes between them accelerates. “This synergy could enrich the environmental conditions favorable to antibiotic resistance even in the absence of antibiotics.“, they say.
Microplastics that attack the brain
For researchers, it is clear that “the increased spread of antibiotic resistance is an overlooked potential impact of microplastic pollution”. But it’s not the only one, South Korean scientists recently demonstrated that microplastics can accumulate in immune cells in the brain and destroy them. A worrying finding in the face of the proliferation of this pollution: according to a study relayed by Ifremerthere would be between 82 and 578,000 tonnes of microplastics in the oceans.
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