STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Airborne pollutants may be exacerbating bacterial resistance to antibiotics, a new study found, worsening the impact of so-called superbugs that threaten global health.
Scientists at Zhejiang University in China and the University of Cambridge in England assessed data from 116 countries between 2000 and 2018, including 11.5 million lab tests that covered nine bacterial pathogens and 43 types of antibiotics, according to the research published Monday in The Lancet Planetary Health.
Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, can occur naturally but is known to be aggravated by stressors like pollution, which can create favorable conditions for microorganisms to develop resistance. That could enable infections previously controlled by antibiotics to eventually be rendered ineffective.
The study found antibiotic resistance increases with a rise of a deadly form of pollution called particulate matter, otherwise known as PM2.5 — fine particles that measure 2.5 micrometers and smaller (about one-thirtieth the width of a human hair).
Specifically, every 1% rise in air pollution led to between a 0.5% and 1.9% increase of antibiotic resistance, depending on the pathogen. That association, the researchers said, has strengthened in recent years, with the highest levels of antibiotic resistance occurring in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
Levels in North America and Europe are comparatively low, the study said.
A total of 480,000 premature deaths are believed to be linked to antibiotic resistance resulting from air pollution in 2018, triggering $395 billion in economic costs. That outsized impact, said the study authors, points to a need to better control air quality.
“Antibiotic resistance and air pollution are each in their own right among the greatest threats to global health,” lead author Hong Chen, of Zhejiang University, said in a release. “Until now, we didn’t have a clear picture of the possible links between the two, but this work…
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