Grim Signals of Future Antimicrobial Resistance Found Lurking in Sewage

By Russell McLendon – ScienceAlert

Dangerous bacteria and other disease-causing microbes are rapidly evolving ways to defy our best antibiotic medications, a phenomenon known as antimicrobial resistance. Humans are inadvertently contributing by overexposing pathogens to our limited defenses.

With drug-resistant bacteria already killing more than 1 million people a year, researchers are seeking clues about the future of these superbugs by examining the world’s wastewater.

A new study by an international team of researchers has found that latent antimicrobial resistance is more common than we realised.