Are MICROplastics making BIG impacts?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that have infiltrated our ecosystem from waste. And you know what’s even worse? They’re teaming up with bacteria! How?
Enter Neila Gross and team at Boston University.
They exposed the common bacteria, E. coli, to microplastics to see if it changed antibiotic resistance. Results? E. coli exposed to microplastics needed ONE HUNDRED times more antibiotics to be eliminated! It became super powered!
If these plastics are making bacteria that much more resistant, infections could become more serious and harder to treat.
Looks like bacteria is getting a resistance facelift — talk about a microPLASTIC surgeon!
Reference: Gross N, Muhvich J, Ching C, Gomez B, Horvath E, Nahum Y, Zaman MH.0.Effects of microplastic concentration, composition, and size on Escherichia coli biofilm-associated antimicrobial resistance. Appl Environ Microbiol 0:e02282-24.https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02282-24