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July 25, 2018
Weather applications often report poor air quality, which is common in urban areas, where levels of outdoor pollution containing particulate matter and soot are high. . But now, scientists report in the study of the ACS Environmental Science & Technology that there is another type of air contaminant that they believe does not receive enough attention: genes for antibiotic resistance
. Control and prevention of disease, at least 2 million people in the United States are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year. Research has shown that antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) can pbad bacteria to bacteria, or even bacteria to the environment. For example, tetracycline resistance genes have been found near animal feed operations, and β-lactam resistance genes have been found in California urban parks. These studies indicated that airborne transmission could be a factor in the spread and exposure of ARGs. But current air pollution surveys do not usually consider ARGs. Thus, Maosheng Yao and his colleagues wanted to examine airborne ARGs on a global scale.
The team conducted a survey of 30 ARGs in 19 cities worldwide, including San Francisco, Beijing and Paris. The group studied ARGs resistant to seven common clbades of antibiotics: quinolones, β-lactams, macrolides, tetracyclines, sulfonamides, aminoglycosides and vancomycins. Beijing had the most diverse group of airborne ARGs, with 18 different subtypes detected, while San Francisco had the highest overall level of airborne ARGs. The β-lactam and quinolone-resistant genes were the two most abundant types of ARG in all the cities studied. Low levels of ARG resistant to vancomycin, an antibiotic of last resort for the treatment of MRSA, have been found in the air of six cities.
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