BERNAMA/DPA – Microscopic plastic particles, smaller than 0.0001 millimetres, are infiltrating human bodies and contributing to the growing ineffectiveness of antibiotics, according to a European team of medical researchers.
These tiny fragments, originating from plastic bottles and bags, “not only diminish the effectiveness of antibiotics but may also encourage the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria”, the researchers reported in Scientific Reports, a journal within the Nature portfolio.
“Our findings reveal that the interaction between micro- and nanoplastics and antibiotics can alter drug absorption, facilitate drug transport to unexpected locations, and elevate local antibiotic concentrations,” the team stated. “This dual effect potentially weakens antibiotic efficacy while simultaneously fostering antibiotic resistance.”
In tests and computer modelling involving commonly-used plastics such as polystyrene, the researchers saw that particles can bind to and reduce the effectiveness of tetracycline, a commonly-used antibiotic, and thus impair the effectiveness of the medication.
“The binding was particularly strong with nylon”, which is released from clothes and textiles, and can get into the human body via respiration, said Austria’s Medical University of Vienna pathologist and cancer researcher Professor Dr Lukas Kenner.
Worse still, the binding means the drugs could be dragged around to regions of the body where they are not needed or could have negative effects, according to the team, which included scientists from the University of Bonn in Germany and the University of Debrecen in Hungary.
Nanoplastics and slightly bigger microplastics have been found to enter the human blood and brain systems, sometimes passing into bodies via perspiration, and passing from mother to unborn child in the womb.
Awareness of the possible health dangers of microplastics has grown as environmentalists raise concerns about plastic pollution and the dumping of rubbish in seas and oceans, where it breaks down and enters the food chain.
Meanwhile, the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the resistance of germs to drugs, could be the cause of almost five million deaths a year, according to research published last year by The Lancet medical journal.
