ScienceDaily.com recently reported on a discovery made by researchers who found that treated wastewater dumping in Lake Geneva (Wisconsin) has led to an increase in strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the lake. These strains are a product of wastewater treatment facilities where they have become resistant to the treatment that is supposed to kill off other bacteria before entering waterways. This has occurred because bacteria have taken up genes from the wastewater that are resistant to the purification methods used in local treatment facilities. The researchers who tested for this using both simple culture and extensive genetic analysis and found an increase in resistant genes in treated wastewater and in sediment samples from the dumping site. It is being recommended that the local hospitals treat their wastewater separately as they produce most of the wastewater that goes into the water treatment facility. This could prove to be dangerous if pathogens are able to pick up the resistant bacteria and then spread through the waterways into the drinking water. This is a good example of the common process of bacteria being able to take up DNA and express it to become more resistant.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Antibiotic Resistant Genes in Lake Geneva
ScienceDaily.com recently reported on a discovery made by researchers who found that treated wastewater dumping in Lake Geneva (Wisconsin) has led to an increase in strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the lake. These strains are a product of wastewater treatment facilities where they have become resistant to the treatment that is supposed to kill off other bacteria before entering waterways. This has occurred because bacteria have taken up genes from the wastewater that are resistant to the purification methods used in local treatment facilities. The researchers who tested for this using both simple culture and extensive genetic analysis and found an increase in resistant genes in treated wastewater and in sediment samples from the dumping site. It is being recommended that the local hospitals treat their wastewater separately as they produce most of the wastewater that goes into the water treatment facility. This could prove to be dangerous if pathogens are able to pick up the resistant bacteria and then spread through the waterways into the drinking water. This is a good example of the common process of bacteria being able to take up DNA and express it to become more resistant.
This article is scary in the fact that each year and probebly more often then that we are creating more and more antibiotic resistant bacteria... The beginnning of the zombie apocalypse?
ReplyDeleteAnother thing contributing to this problem is the fact that many doctors over prescribe anibiotics. You never know what superbug will be found next.
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