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The microscopic shards of plastic found in every corner of the planet may be exacerbating antibiotic resistance, a new study has found.
Bacteria exposed to these ubiquitous fragments, known as “microplastics,” became resistant to multiple types of antibiotics commonly used to treat infections, researchers showed in the study, published on Tuesday in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
The authors expressed alarm about their discovery, particularly for people living in high-density, low-income places like refugee settlements, where plastic piles up and bacterial infections spread with ease.
“The fact that there are microplastics all around us, and even more so in impoverished places where sanitation may be limited, is a striking part of this observation,” said senior author Muhammad Zaman, a professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, in a statement.
The possibly greater risk among residents of disadvantaged communities “underscores the need for more vigilance” and research into microplastic and bacterial interactions, Zaman added.
About 4.95 million people worldwide die from antimicrobial-resistant infections each year, Zaman and his colleagues noted. Meanwhile, they explained bacteria develop resistance not only due to the misuse of medications, but also via the microscopic environments that surround them.
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