By exposing certain bacteria to different types of microplastics, a team of researchers has discovered that they actively promote antibiotic resistance, even without the presence of drugs.
- A new study reveals that microplastics actively promote antibiotic resistance, even without the presence of antibiotics.
- Researchers have exposed E. coli to different types of microplastics and found increased resistance to four antibiotics in less than 10 days. This resistance persisted even after the elimination of microplastics.
- “Microplastics are not simple carriers, but foci of antibiotic resistance,” according to researchers.
Microplastics are not only environmental pollutants that accumulate everywhere in our body: they also play an active role in the development of antibiotic resistance. This is the conclusion of a new study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiologya review by the American Society for Microbiology.
Microplastics reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics
“Fighting plastic pollution is not just an environmental issue is an essential public health priority in the fight against antibiotic infections”assert researchers from the University of Boston, in the United States, in a press release. The massive use of plastic has led to global contamination of wastewater, which has become a major microplastics reservoir. At the same time, antibiotic resistance is growing worldwide, favored by various environmental factors. However, microplastics are well known for sheltering microbes communities on their surfaces, forming what researchers call the “plastisphere”.
Antibiotic resistance developed in less than ten days
In this study, scientists cultivated bacteria Escherichia coli On different types of microplastics (polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene) and variable sizes for ten days. Every two days, they measured the amount of antibiotics necessary to inhibit the growth of exposed bacteria, in order to assess the evolution of their resistance.
The researchers found that, regardless of the size or concentration of microplastics, they favored the development of antibiotic resistance in less than ten days. The exposed bacteria had increased resistance to four current antibiotics: ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline and streptomycin. “This means that microplastics considerably increase the risk of ineffectiveness of antibiotics against various serious infections”warn scientists.
Broves of evolution of antibiotic resistance
Even more worrying: the resistance induced by microplastics has proven to be stable and persistent, even after the elimination of microplastics and antibiotics. This suggests that these pollutants can select bacteria with genetic or phenotypic characteristics promoting resistance, regardless of the presence of antibiotics.
“Our results show that microplastics [et en particulier le polystyrène] actively promote the emergence of antibiotic resistance, even in the absence of antibiotics, underline the researchers. This calls into question the idea that microplastics are simple passive transporters of resistant bacteria. They actually constitute foci of evolution of antibiotic resistance. “
