The next generation of air pollution * We are used to hearing about polluted air from transportation or factories, but new research reveals that the air of cities around the world currently has concentrations of antibiotic-resistant genes, which can cause the creation of more resistant and deadly bacteria. What can each and every one of us do to fight this phenomenon?
Dr. Naomi Wonder, Angle, Science and Environment News Agency
Almost a hundred years have passed since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, which quickly became a life-saving wonder drug. Since then, many types of antibiotic drugs have been developed, which have saved millions of people and created a revolution in the field of medicine. It was not for nothing that Fleming won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, and the discovery of antibiotics is considered one of the most important discoveries in the field of medicine. But alongside Fleming's well-known achievements, his warning is sometimes forgotten: beware of the formation of penicillin-resistant bacteria.
It turns out that Fleming was right, and today bacterial resistance to antibiotics is at its peak all over the world. And despite efforts being made in some countries, the use of antibiotics in humans and animals is increasing, and resistant bacteria are causing life-threatening infections and many deaths. The problem is not limited to hospitals and clinics, where such bacteria can be expected to thrive. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are around us everywhere, and resistance can be transferred between bacteria, as well as animals and humans.
Now, New research Shows how serious the problem is. Antibiotic resistance genes were found in samples of respirable particulate matter (PM) collected from the air of 19 cities around the world. These genes are airborne and can spread from place to place, thus they constitute a health and environmental hazard.
700 thousand die a year
Resistance to substances is an evolutionary trait that occurs naturally in bacteria. But when bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, there is an acceleration of this process, and the bacteria begin to develop properties that will help them deal with that specific type of antibiotic. Bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics through the creation of genetic mutations, and also through the direct transfer of genetic material from bacterium to bacterium. Once resistance develops, the antibiotic can no longer effectively inhibit the development of the bacteria, and they continue to multiply in the presence of the antibiotic.
"Antibiotic resistance is a problem that is getting worse and worse in light of the increasing use of antibiotics," explains Dr. Zohar Barnet-Yitzhaky, an environmental health researcher at the Ministry of Health. "The fact that there are places where antibiotics are given in an uncontrolled and irresponsible way, starting with the prescription by doctors, continuing with pharmacists and of course ending with the public, who both overuse and misuse antibiotics, undoubtedly contributes to the increase in resistance."
Antibiotics leak into the environment through sewage: drugs we consume are excreted in urine and feces and end up in wastewater, along with waste from hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry. Sewage water is indeed treated in wastewater treatment facilities, but the problem is that these facilities are not built to treat antibiotic-resistant genes, and these are released into the environment - either in the treated wastewater, which is used for irrigation or discharged into the sea, or in the sludge - a solid product of the purification process, which is used to treat agricultural land. "We don't treat the industrial wastewater of the pharmaceutical industry well enough," says Dr. Brent-Yitzhaki, "we actually release a lot of antibiotics into the environment and cause more and more bacteria to prefer to develop properties that deal with those antibiotics."
Along with the overuse of antibiotics in humans, the overuse of antibiotics in livestock also causes the acceleration of the development of resistant bacteria. Antibiotics are used not only to treat sick animals, but also to prevent infectious diseases and to encourage growth. Although many of the OECD countries have already banned the use of antibiotics for growth promotion, many countries still make extensive use of antibiotics to prevent disease. And so, when we eat animals that have been treated with antibiotics, resistant bacteria found in the meat consumed may be transferred to humans. Resistant bacteria can also migrate from the animal's feces into the environment, thus contaminating the soil and water.
It is estimated that every year 700 thousand people die worldwide as a result of bacteria resistant to antibiotics, and it is expected that by 2050 this number will increase to 10 million people every year. According to the Ministry of Health's assessment, over 4,000 patients die each year in Israel from infections acquired in hospitals, in many cases from bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
"The fact that there are places where antibiotics are given in an uncontrolled and irresponsible way, starting with the prescription by doctors, continuing with pharmacists and of course ending with the public, who both overuse and misuse antibiotics, undoubtedly contributes to the increase in resistance." Photo: simone van der koelen – unsplash
Another type of air pollution
The presence of antibiotic resistant genes in the air is an indication of the severity of the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The more resistant genes there are in the air, the greater the chance that these genes will be transferred to disease-causing bacteria, creating a dangerous situation where more such bacteria will become resistant. An increase in the prevalence of air-resistant genes may also increase the risk of inhalation of these genes by humans; The presence of resistant genes in our bodies may lead to a situation where when we encounter disease-causing bacteria and consume antibiotics, there will be pressure on the bacterial population that will cause resistant genes to pass into the disease-causing bacteria, and thus they may become resistant and survive the treatment.
In a new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology and is the result of a collaboration between many researchers around the world. The researchers conducted a global survey in order to deepen the knowledge about airborne genes in urban environments, and examined the differences in concentrations of antibiotic resistant genes in the air of 19 cities in 13 countries around the world, including the USA, China, France, Australia and South Africa.
For the purpose of the test, 174 air conditioner filters were collected from cars between 2016 and 2017. Small particles less than 10 micrometers in size (known as 10PM) were produced from the filters. 39 subtypes of genes conferring resistance to seven different groups of antibiotics were found in the samples. In Beijing, China and Brisbane, Australia, the most antibiotic-resistant gene subtypes were detected in the air. Genes conferring resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics (such as penicillin) and quinolones (such as ciprofloxacin) were the most common in all the cities tested.
The researchers also checked the information available in hospitals in those cities about the use of five of the seven types of antibiotics, and found a direct relationship between the level of antibiotic resistant genes measured in the air and the use of antibiotics from these five groups in the hospitals. The researchers emphasize that various procedures aimed at monitoring the use of antibiotics in urban hospitals can greatly affect the spread of resistant genes in the air and thus the health of the residents in the area.
The researchers warned against the fact that genes conferring resistance to antibiotics and vancomycin were found, albeit at a low level, in the air of several cities including Beijing, Paris and Johannesburg. Vancomycin is considered the most powerful antibiotic and is used as a last resort in the treatment of infections caused by methylene-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Today most infections in hospitals are caused by infection with these bacteria.
Unlike some other pollutants, resistant genes do not have threshold values in the air; But the fact that they were found in the air of all the cities tested is another indication of the severity of the problem of bacterial resistance and how much it concerns all the countries of the world. The researchers claim that since these genes are airborne they can reach both distant areas and areas where antibiotics are not widely used. "This is an interesting and unique research, which is the result of a worldwide collaboration," says Brent-Yitzhaky, "Research of air-resistant bacteria is a new and very relevant field. This is a study that highlights the problem we are facing: a growing increase in the use of antibiotics, resistant bacteria and genes for resistance, and this is something that should definitely be taken into account.'
Medicines are returned to the health insurance fund
The presence of air-resistant genes is also being studied in Israel, in the laboratory of Prof. Yanon Rodich in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Researchers in the laboratory found the presence of genes that confer resistance to antibiotics in bacteria carried in the dust storms that arrive in Israel from different regions. According to Dr. Daniela Gat, a postdoctoral student in the laboratory, two genes that confer resistance to antibiotics were tested. "In the samples we collected, we saw that the amount of antibiotic resistant genes was relatively higher on the days when there was no dust compared to the days after a dust storm. So basically, we are constantly breathing antibiotic-resistant genes, and the origin of these genes is anthropogenic (originating from human activity)."
Israeli researchers found that while the general consumption level of antibiotics among Israelis remained unchanged between 2010-2000, the use of expensive and broad-spectrum antibiotics increased. Broad-spectrum antibiotics work on a wider variety of disease-causing bacteria, and more widespread use of this type of antibiotic is associated with a higher rate of bacterial resistance in the community.
In order to protect ourselves and the environment, Dr. Brent-Yitzhaky explains that "we need to be more responsible: this means, first of all, not to take antibiotics unnecessarily, and that when you take antibiotics, finish them to the end. These are very basic things. And there is also our initiative at the Ministry of Health not to throw medicines in the trash, in the sink or in the toilet. Any medicine that is not used should be returned to the health funds.' In Israel, as in many other countries in the world, household drug waste is collected in the pharmacies of the health funds. However, it was found that less than 14 percent of Israelis return medicines to the pharmacy. "When you throw medicines down the toilet or sink, it's horrible - that's exactly what causes problematic processes," he concludes.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
3 תגובות
I didn't understand - are the genes carried by the wind alone or as part of the body of a resistant bacterium?
Yigal
And so - you will have better and cheaper food... how evil these farmers are!
Farmers will sell their mother in order to shorten the time to market