Super bug cause pinpointed by scientists - and it's one we can't avoid
Super bug cause pinpointed by scientists - and it's one we can't avoid
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People consuming microplastics could be the reason for a rise in deadly super bugs according to new research. Microplastics are the tiny pieces which break away from everyday items such as food packaging and shopping bags, and they can then easily enter the human body.
Increasing pollution has led to more microplastics being in the environment and they have been linked to a whole series of illnesses in humans including cancer, dementia and heart disease. As they are so small they can easily enter the food chain and move around the body through the blood supply. The World Health Organisation states: “Microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment and have been detected in a broad range of concentrations in marine water, wastewater, fresh water, food, air and drinking-water, both bottled and tap water.”.
And now researchers at the University of Oxford appear to have found a link between microplastics and resistance to antibiotics by bacteria. Superbugs have been on the rise with their ability to fight off all but the strongest antibiotics which is believed to be down to the drugs being overprescribed.
Scientists now believe that the bugs are entering human bodies with the microplastics which is making them “up to 200 times” more resistant to antibiotics. The research has been carried out by the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in China where a new paper has told how it was already known that bacteria would mutate with the plastics. But what is surprising is the extent of the threat from microplastics.
