Excessive hygiene promotes antibiotic resistance

The number of people who get sick and die from antibiotic-resistant germs is increasing worldwide. The World Health Organization, World Health Organization, believes that understanding the spread of antibiotic resistance and the development of countermeasures is one of the biggest global challenges. In this context, Gabriele Berg, who heads the Institute for Environmental Biotechnology at the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), has launched an interdisciplinary cooperation project as part of her research project on microbial communities. in indoor environments associated with plants, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The research group studied microbial control – the degree of cleaning and hygiene measures – and its influence on the development of resistance. Research was conducted with national partners of the Graz University of Medicine in the framework of the BioTechMed-Graz interuniversity cooperation and international partners. The results of the research have just been published in Nature Communications.

The researchers compared the microbiome and the resistome – that is, all existing microorganisms and antibiotic resistance – in the intensive care unit of the hospital's internal medicine department. University of Graz with clean rooms subject to significant microbial control in the aerospace industry and public and private buildings. which have virtually no microbial control. Analyzes show that microbial diversity is decreasing in areas of high hygiene but that the diversity of resistance is increasing. "In microbial-intensive environments of intensive care units and clean rooms used in industry, antibiotic resistance is increasing, which shows a high potential for combination with pathogens," says Dr. Alexander Mahnert , director of studies at the TU Institute of Environmental Biotechnology. Graz, who is currently conducting research at the Graz University of Medicine.

The results indicate that stable microbial diversity in clinical areas counteracts the spread of resistance. "Microbial control of pathogens is already being used successfully in cultivated plants as well as in humans in stool transplantation. Our study provides an initial basis for pursuing such ideas in indoor spaces in the future, "says Berg. Regular aeration, indoor plants, the deliberate use of beneficial microorganisms and the reduction of antibacterial cleansing agents might be the first strategies to maintain or improve microbial diversity.

In a later stage, the research team at the Graz University of Technology wants to develop and implement biotechnological solutions for tailor-made microbial diversity.

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Cooperation partners:
Environmental Biotechnology Institute of TU Graz; Department of Internal Medicine of Graz University of Medicine; BioTechMed Graz; Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science of the University of Vienna; Department of Life Sciences, Ben Gurion University of Negev Israel, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia, CSIC, Madrid, Spain

Publication source: Artificial microbial resistances in built environments Nature Communications 10, Article number: 968 (2019)