Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Spreads Into Nature
The scientists took samples from 97 birds in northeastern Siberia, northern Alaska, and northern Greenland. These samples were cultivated directly in special laboratories that the researchers had installed onboard the icebreaker Oden and were further analyzed at the microbiological laboratory at the Central Hospital in Växjö, Sweden.
"We were extremely surprised," says Björn Olsen, professor of infectious diseases at Uppsala University and at the Laboratory for Zoonosis Research at the University of Kalmar.
"We took samples from birds living far out on the tundra and had no contact with people. This further confirms that resistance to antibiotics has become a global phenomenon and that virtually no region of the earth, with the possible exception of the Antarctic, is unaffected."
The researchers' hypothesis is that immigrating birds have passed through regions in Southeast Asia, for example, where there is a great deal of antibiotics pressure and carried with them the resistant bacteria to the tundra.
"We already knew that birds in the Western world can be carriers of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, but it's alarming to find that these bacteria exist among birds out on the tundra," says Jonas Bonnedahl, a physician infectious specializing in infectious diseases in Kalmar and one of those participating in the expedition.
"Our findings show that resistance to antibiotics is not limited to society and hospitals but is now spreading into the wild. Escalating resistance to antibiotics over the last few years has crystallized into one of the greatest threats to well-functioning health care in the future."
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Article adapted by Start Sanatate from original press release.
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Contacts:
Björn Olsen, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University
Jonas Bonnedahl, County Hospital in Kalmar
Source: Björn Olsen
Uppsala University
Rezistente la antibiotice Bacterii propagã In Natura - Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Spreads Into Nature - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate