Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Determining the Contribution of Micro/Nanoplastics to Antimicrobial Resistance: Challenges and Perspectives

This review examines how microplastics in the environment serve as surfaces where antibiotic-resistant bacteria can grow and exchange resistance genes, potentially worsening the global antimicrobial resistance crisis. Researchers found that the unique surface properties of micro- and nanoplastics create favorable conditions for the spread of antibiotic resistance genes among microorganisms. The study highlights that microplastic pollution and antibiotic resistance are interconnected environmental health challenges that may need to be addressed together.

2023 Environmental Science & Technology 64 citations
Article Tier 2

A review on the effect of micro- and nano-plastics pollution on the emergence of antimicrobial resistance

This review highlights how microplastics serve as breeding grounds for antimicrobial resistance genes, examining the overlooked interaction between plastic pollution and antibiotic resistance that poses combined threats to environmental and human health.

2022 Chemosphere 34 citations
Article Tier 2

El impacto de la resistencia a los antibióticos en el desarrollo sostenible

This Spanish-language review discusses antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a growing global public health crisis, examining how antibiotics spread through ecosystems and drive resistance in bacteria. While not primarily about microplastics, the paper is relevant because microplastics are known carriers of antibiotic resistance genes in aquatic environments. The authors call for a One Health approach to AMR that considers environmental reservoirs.

2021 Población y Salud en Mesoamérica 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Antibiotic resistant bacteria colonising microplastics in the aquatic environment: An emerging challenge

Researchers reviewed how microplastics in aquatic environments act as surfaces where antibiotic-resistant bacteria can grow and swap resistance genes with each other, raising concern that contaminated seafood and water could transfer these hard-to-treat bacteria to humans.

2024 Discover Sustainability 15 citations
Article Tier 2

The Microplastic-Antibiotic Resistance Connection

This review examined the link between microplastic pollution and antibiotic resistance, finding that microplastic surfaces in the environment selectively enrich antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes, creating hotspots that may amplify the spread of resistance far beyond clinical settings.

2021 Environmental contamination remediation and management 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and antibiotic resistance genes as rising threats: Their interaction represents an urgent environmental concern

This review examines how microplastics interact with antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment, creating a combined pollution threat. Microplastics can absorb antibiotics onto their surface and serve as platforms where bacteria exchange resistance genes. This interaction could accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance, making infections harder to treat and posing a growing public health risk.

2025 Current Research in Microbial Sciences 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and their role in the emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria as a threat for the environment

Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as breeding grounds for antibiotic-resistant bacteria by providing surfaces where bacteria can swap resistance genes with each other — a process called horizontal gene transfer. This dual threat of plastic pollution and antibiotic resistance is compounding into a significant global public health crisis.

2025 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 7 citations
Article Tier 2

The nexus of microplastics, food and antimicrobial resistance in the context of aquatic environment: Interdisciplinary linkages of pathways

This review examines how microplastics in aquatic environments serve as surfaces where bacteria can grow, share antibiotic resistance genes, and then enter the food chain through contaminated seafood. The combination of microplastic pollution and antimicrobial resistance creates a compounding threat, as resistant bacteria riding on plastic particles can survive water treatment and reach humans. The authors call for interdisciplinary research connecting environmental science and public health to address this growing risk.

2025 Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in fresh- and wastewater are potential contributors to antibiotic resistance - A minireview

Researchers reviewed the link between microplastic pollution and the spread of antibiotic resistance in freshwater environments, finding that microplastic surfaces host unique bacterial communities enriched in antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the resistance genes they can share with other microbes. The close packing of bacteria in these plastic-surface biofilms may accelerate the spread of drug-resistant pathogens through drinking water sources, though the full health implications remain poorly understood.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Novel Insights into the Antimicrobial Resistance and Strategies to Curb the Menace

This review covers the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance emergence and spread, summarizing novel strategies to combat resistance including phage therapy, antivirulence compounds, and enhanced surveillance, and discusses how environmental contamination including microplastics may contribute to resistance.

2024 Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

How microplastics and nanoplastics shape antibiotic resistance?

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics act as vectors for antibiotic resistance genes, facilitating their spread through environmental and biological systems by creating selective pressure and hosting microbial communities that exchange resistance determinants.

2022 Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental drivers of antibiotic resistance: Synergistic effects of climate change, co-pollutants, and microplastics

This review examines how climate change, chemical pollutants, and microplastics work together to accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance, a growing global health crisis. Microplastics provide surfaces where bacteria form communities that exchange resistance genes, and as these plastics age in the environment, they become even better at absorbing other pollutants, creating hotspots that amplify drug resistance.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic-associated pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in environment

This review examines how microplastics in the environment act as surfaces for disease-causing bacteria and antibiotic-resistant microbes to colonize and spread. Researchers found that microplastics can carry pathogens and facilitate the transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes between bacteria in water systems. The findings raise concerns that microplastic pollution may be contributing to the growing global challenge of antibiotic resistance.

2021 Chemosphere 175 citations
Article Tier 2

On the Generation, Impact and Removal of Antibiotic Resistance in the Water Environment

This review explains how antibiotic resistance develops and spreads through water environments — including rivers, groundwater, and wastewater. The findings are relevant to microplastics because plastic particles in water are known to accumulate antibiotic-resistant bacteria, potentially accelerating the spread of drug resistance through aquatic systems.

2023 BIO Web of Conferences 1 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

The Plastisphere Resistome: A Systematic Review of Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Resistant Bacteria on Microplastics

This systematic review examines whether microplastic-associated biofilms harbor higher levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria compared to surrounding environments. If microplastics act as hotspots for antibiotic resistance genes, they could spread drug-resistant bacteria through water systems, posing a serious concern for human health and the effectiveness of antibiotics.

2026 Open Science Framework
Article Tier 2

How Antimicrobial Resistance Is Linked to Climate Change: An Overview of Two Intertwined Global Challenges

This review explores how climate change and antibiotic resistance are connected health emergencies, with microplastics playing a role as carriers that help spread resistant bacteria through waterways. The findings suggest that rising plastic pollution in water systems may contribute to the spread of drug-resistant infections, which is a growing threat to human health.

2023 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 417 citations
Article Tier 2

Selection for antimicrobial resistance in the plastisphere

This review examines how microplastics in the environment may contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance by providing surfaces where bacteria, antibiotics, and resistant genes converge. Researchers describe several mechanisms by which the microbial communities living on microplastics, known as the plastisphere, could accelerate horizontal gene transfer of resistance traits. The study highlights an emerging concern at the intersection of plastic pollution and the global antimicrobial resistance crisis.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Interplay Between Antimicrobial Resistance and Global Environmental Change

This review explores how global environmental changes, including pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction, are accelerating the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Researchers found that factors like microplastic pollution, heavy metals, and pharmaceutical waste create conditions that promote the evolution of resistant bacteria. The study suggests that addressing antimicrobial resistance requires considering it as an environmental problem, not just a medical one.

2023 Annual Review of Genetics 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding the Interplay between Antimicrobial Resistance, Microplastics and Xenobiotic Contaminants: A Leap towards One Health?

This review examines the interplay between antimicrobial resistance, microplastics, and xenobiotic contaminants in the environment, highlighting how microplastics can serve as vectors for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes, posing combined threats to ecosystem and human health.

2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 21 citations
Article Tier 2

The Role of Wastewater Treatment Plants in Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance: Source, Measurement, Removal and Risk Assessment

This review examines how wastewater treatment plants handle antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their resistance genes, finding that current treatment processes do not fully remove them. Different levels of treatment show varying removal rates, and resistant bacteria can still be found in treated water released into the environment. While not directly about microplastics, the findings are relevant because microplastics in wastewater can carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria into waterways.

2024 Antibiotics 34 citations