There are antibiotic-resistant genes pretty much everywhere scientists have looked.
A new study highlighted just how common antibiotic genes are in nature, a Cell Press news release reported.
"While the environment is known to harbor antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, as proven by many preceding studies, we did not really know the extent of their abundance," Joseph Nesme of the Université de Lyon in France, said in the news release. "The fact that we were able to detect antibiotic resistance genes at relatively important abundance in every environment tested is certainly our most striking result."
To make their findings the team looked at next-generation sequencing data that is available to the public in repositories. They also looked at antibiotic-resistant bacteria that had infected hospital patients.
"Our strategy was simply to use all these pre-existing data and combine them to answer more precisely the question of antibiotic resistance prevalence in the environment," Nesme said.
The researchers found evidence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in all 71 locations looked at in the study including "soil, oceans, and human feces," the news release reported. The researchers found soil contained the highest variety of antibiotic-resistant genes.
These bacteria would be resistant to a number of drugs including "vancomycin, tetracycline, or beta-lactam antibiotics," the news release reported.
Current technology does not allow us to get a picture of the extent of diversity in these samples. The fact that these genes are present in soil (which has not been exposed to antibiotics) suggests these genes existed before the drugs even existed.
The researchers hope their study will encourage officials to take antibiotic resistance more seriously.
"It is only with more knowledge on antibiotic resistance dissemination-from the environment to pathogens in the clinic and leading to antibiotic treatment failure rates-that we will be able to produce more sustainable antibiotic drugs," Nesme said.
