The absorption of micro- and nanoplastics into our bodies is being found to have more and more adverse effects on our health, with the latest discovery that it can negatively affect the actions of the antibiotics we take. — dpa
Tiny bits of plastic smaller than 0.0001 millimetres are getting into human bodies and adding to the increasing ineffectiveness of many antibiotics, a European team of medical researchers has found.
These minute particles from plastic bottles and bags “not only impair the effect of the drugs, but could also promote the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria”, according to the research published in Scientific Reports, one of the Nature stable of journals.
“Our data show that the interaction of micro- and nanoplastics with drugs can alter drug absorption, facilitate drug transport to new locations, and increase local antibiotic concentrations, potentially attenuating antibiotic effect, and at the same time, promoting antibiotic resistance,” the team said.
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 in May (2024) by The Lancet medical journal. – dpa
