Pollution of antibiotics

Addiction and antibiotic.

Until now, it has been believed that the use of antibiotics or overuse of antibiotics leads to the development of resistance in bacteria. Now new research has shown that heavy metals, microplastics, and the antibiotics themselves are also responsible for causing bacteria to develop resistance to more than one biocompatible drug.

According to scientists, the environment affected by industrial and mining waste, sewage pollution, agriculture and aquaculture is becoming the main basis for the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Due to environmental pollutants such as heavy metals and fine plastic particles, pathogenic bacteria are under increasing selection pressure and developing chain systems.

Because of this, the resistance of those bacteria to antibiotics is increasing. The increasing number of pathogens that have resistance to more than one drug is becoming a matter of concern. For this reason, the pathogens that were earlier controlled by taking antibiotics are no longer effective against them. Antibiotic resistance observed in microbes is an evolutionary process, based on the selection of the pathogen. Pathogenic bacteria have developed co-selection mechanisms within themselves with their contaminants, thereby developing resistance to more than one drug. In future, such pathogenic bacteria may pose a great challenge to human health. Due to the genetic makeup of bacteria, they have a natural ability to have basic immunity.

According to new research published in Chemosphere, now the increasing level of pollutants is also becoming a means of increasing the immunity of bacteria. When bacteria show resistance to different compounds using only one gene, it is called cross-resistance. Whereas when a bacterium uses two or more of its different resistance genes together to acquire resistance to compounds such as antibiotics, it is called co-resistance. a variety of diseases; For example, pathogenic bacteria causing typhoid, pneumonia, etc., along with their antibiotic resistance genes, are co-resisting with genetic elements such as plasmids, transposons and integrons containing heavy metals and microplastic resistance genes. This co-resistance is further transmitted in bacteria through horizontal genetic exchange through the top transmission of inherited mutations from previous generations and genetic recombination of DNA.

Waste from the firms that manufacture antibiotics also contains abundant amounts of antibiotic compounds, which are carried into aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems due to unsafe disposal. Through this medium, apart from humans, it also reaches other organisms. Antibiotics are also found in animal excreta because of the large number of antibiotics used to increase animal production. When used as manure for agriculture, they reach the soil in the fields and then reach the water bodies through rain and pollute the water.

The faeces and urine of patients taking antibiotics also contain active traces of antibiotics, which end up in sewage. Antibiotics are reaching almost all ecosystems due to various anthropogenic activities. Bacteria have developed special mechanisms within themselves to avoid heavy metal poisoning. The resistance to heavy metals developed in bacteria is strengthening their ability to fight off antibiotics. Due to this many pathogenic bacteria have started co-selecting with pollutants such as cadmium, chromium and micro-plastics.

The United Nations Environment Program estimates that by 2050 there will be more microplastics in the oceans than fish. According to Dr Milind, bacteria can form biofilms on their cell surface through micro-plastics. In the future, microplastics could prove to be a major carrier of bacteria making them resistant to antibiotics.

The results of some research in the past two years have shown that micro-plastics naturally release some harmful chemicals during soil processing, which can lead to organic pollutants such as DDT, tylosin on the surface or antibiotics and heavy metals present in the waste; For example, nickel, cadmium, lead etc. stick. Thus micro-plastic is acting as both source and carrier of these dangerous pollutants.

Scientists have identified a human pathogen called vibrios as a dangerous ally that could serve as a potential carrier for the spread of microplastics in the marine environment. There is certainly a need to develop strategies to control heavy metals, antibiotics and micro-plastic pollution in terrestrial and aquatic environments around the world. Unless we are alert in this regard, we will not be determined; Circumstances will continue to present even more difficult challenges. Therefore, this problem should be solved properly.