Papers

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Article Tier 2

Driving Antibiotic Resistance Evolution of E. coli by Three Commonly Used Disinfectants Under Concentration-Increasing Stress

Scientists found that three common disinfectants (including those used in hospitals and cleaning products) can make E. coli bacteria become resistant to both the disinfectants themselves and important antibiotics when exposed to low concentrations over time. This means that leftover disinfectant residues in our environment might be helping create "superbug" bacteria that are harder to treat with medicines. The findings suggest we need to be more careful about how we use and dispose of disinfectants to prevent creating more antibiotic-resistant infections.

2026 Microorganisms
Article Tier 2

Transmission and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Animals, Food, Humans and the Environment

This research review shows that antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their genes are now found everywhere—in people, animals, food, and the environment—not just in hospitals like we used to think. The bacteria can easily share their resistance genes with each other, allowing "superbugs" to spread rapidly between different environments. This matters because it means antibiotic-resistant infections are becoming harder to treat and can reach us through multiple pathways, making it crucial to tackle this problem across all areas of health and the environment at once.

2026 Microorganisms
Article Tier 2

Emerging Issues on Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Colonizing Plastic Waste in Aquatic Ecosystems

Researchers found antibiotic-resistant bacteria colonizing plastic waste submerged in an inland water body, including species related to human pathogens like Klebsiella. All isolated bacteria showed high resistance to multiple antibiotics, and they carried numerous antibiotic resistance genes. This is concerning because plastic waste in waterways can serve as a platform for drug-resistant bacteria to multiply and potentially spread to humans through contaminated water.

2024 Antibiotics 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential of waterbodies as a reservoir ofEscherichia colipathogens and the spread of antibiotic resistance in the Indonesian aquatic environment

This review analyzes the factors driving the spread of pathogenic Escherichia coli and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Indonesian aquatic environments, including antibiotic misuse, inadequate waste treatment, and poor industrial waste management. Indonesian rivers serve as vectors for both pathogenic E. coli and antimicrobial resistance genes, posing significant public health risks.

2023 Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of the soil resistome and mobilome in Namib Desert soils

Researchers analyzed desert soils in Namibia and found a surprising variety of antibiotic resistance genes and mobile genetic elements, suggesting that even remote, pristine environments harbor genes that could spread antibiotic resistance — driven by horizontal gene transfer between bacteria rather than by the bacterial species present.

2023 International Microbiology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strains Recovered from Selected Aquatic Resources in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and Its Significance to Public Health

Researchers recovered pathogenic Escherichia coli strains from aquatic environments in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, finding evidence of antimicrobial resistance genes and highlighting the public health significance of waterway contamination as a pathway for resistance proliferation.

2018 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential risk of microplastics in plateau karst lakes: Insights from metagenomic analysis

Researchers surveyed microplastic pollution in remote alpine lakes on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, finding concentrations of 20 to 59 particles per liter in water and up to 997 particles per kilogram in sediments. Using metagenomic analysis, they discovered that microplastic surfaces harbored distinct microbial communities carrying antibiotic resistance and virulence genes. The study suggests that even pristine high-altitude ecosystems are affected by microplastic contamination with potential ecological risks.

2025 Environmental Research 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Hidden threats in the plastisphere: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales colonizing microplastics in river water

Researchers placed microplastics in a river near a wastewater treatment plant and found that antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including dangerous carbapenem-resistant strains, colonized the plastic surfaces. These bacteria carried multiple drug-resistance genes and virulence traits, making them potential threats to human health. The study demonstrates that microplastics in waterways can serve as floating platforms that help spread antibiotic-resistant superbugs from wastewater into the broader environment.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Antidrug resistance in the Indian ambient waters of Ahmedabad during the COVID-19 pandemic

Researchers compared antibiotic resistance patterns in Escherichia coli isolated from ambient water in Ahmedabad, India before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding increased multi-drug resistance during the pandemic period, likely linked to elevated antibiotic consumption.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Polymyxin Resistance in Salmonella: Exploring Mutations and Genetic Determinants of Non-Human Isolates

Researchers screened over 1,100 Salmonella samples from animals, food, and the environment in Brazil for resistance to polymyxin antibiotics, which are considered last-resort treatments for serious infections. They identified several strains carrying both chromosomal mutations and mobile resistance genes that could spread between bacteria. The findings highlight the growing challenge of antibiotic resistance emerging from non-human sources in the food production chain.

2024 Antibiotics 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Distinctive signatures of pathogenic and antibiotic resistant potentials in the hadal microbiome

Researchers mapped antibiotic resistance genes and disease-causing microbial traits in the deepest parts of the ocean — the Mariana Trench — revealing a unique and largely unknown landscape of microbial risk factors even in Earth's most remote environments.

2022 Environmental Microbiome 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Antibiotic resistant bacteria in diverse ecological water samples are a threat to Human Food security

Researchers isolated antibiotic-resistant bacteria from three aquatic sources -- the River Ravi, a fish farm, and underground drinking water -- identifying 33 bacterial strains across genera including Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus, and finding resistance to 8 of 10 antibiotic classes with multiple antibiotic resistance indices ranging from 0.43 to 0.88.

2022 Lahore Garrison University Journal of Life Sciences
Article Tier 2

Distribution Characteristics, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Variation Trends of Biliary Microbiome in Acute Cholangitis patients : A 7-Year Retrospective Study in a Tertiary Hospital in Northwest China

Researchers characterized the distribution of antimicrobial resistance genes and their variation trends in environmental samples, finding that resistance gene profiles differed across land-use types and correlated with microplastic contamination levels in some sites. The study adds to evidence that microplastic-associated biofilms may serve as reservoirs for antimicrobial resistance in natural environments.

2024 Research Square (Research Square)
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

Tracking antibiotic resistance genes in microplastic-contaminated soil

Researchers used metagenomics to track antibiotic resistance genes in agricultural soils with long histories of plastic mulch use across eight Chinese provinces, identifying 204 subtypes of resistance genes alongside thousands of mobile genetic elements, demonstrating that microplastic-contaminated soils are significant reservoirs for antibiotic resistance spread.

2022 Chemosphere 28 citations
Article Tier 2

The resistance change and stress response mechanisms of chlorine-resistant bacteria under microplastic stress in drinking water distribution system

Researchers found that microplastics in drinking water pipes can make chlorine-resistant bacteria even more dangerous by boosting their resistance to both antibiotics and disinfectants. Bacteria attached to microplastic surfaces changed their outer coatings and activated stress responses that increased their survival against water treatment chemicals. This is concerning because it means microplastics in water distribution systems could help create superbugs that standard water treatment cannot eliminate.

2024 Environmental Pollution 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Bacterial Community Structure and Its Influencing Factors in Surface Sediments of the Nyang River in the Dry Season, China

Researchers analyzed bacterial community diversity in surface sediments of the Nyang River in Tibet using high-throughput sequencing, finding that climate warming and human activities along this plateau river have measurably shaped microbial composition and structure.

2023 Applied Ecology and Environmental Research 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics accumulate priority antibiotic-resistant pathogens: Evidence from the riverine plastisphere

Researchers placed microplastics in river water and found they accumulated more antibiotic-resistant bacteria than natural sand particles, including dangerous pathogens like E. coli and Klebsiella. Most of the bacteria isolated from the plastic surfaces were multi-drug resistant and carried virulence traits like biofilm formation. This suggests microplastics in waterways may act as rafts for spreading antibiotic resistance through the environment.

2023 Environmental Pollution 58 citations
Article Tier 2

The Phenomenon of Antibiotic Resistance in the Polar Regions: An Overview of the Global Problem

This review examines how antibiotic resistance is reaching even the polar regions through pathways including tourism, research stations, animal migration, and the movement of microplastics carrying resistant bacteria. The authors found that Arctic and Antarctic environments now harbor antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, demonstrating the truly global nature of this public health challenge. The study emphasizes that improved waste management at polar research stations and monitoring of resistance spread are urgently needed.

2023 Infection and Drug Resistance 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic debris facilitates the survival of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens in an urban agricultural environment

Researchers investigating urban farms in Tanzania found that plastic debris in soil and water harbored significantly higher concentrations of dangerous bacteria — including E. coli and Salmonella — than the surrounding soil or water, and that 69% of those bacteria were resistant to multiple antibiotics. The findings show that plastic waste can act as a reservoir that concentrates drug-resistant pathogens, posing risks to both farmers and food consumers.

2026 Environmental Pollution 1 citations