Nanoplastics could be interfering with your antibiotics – making the crucial drugs less effective and contributing to the rise of dangerous drug-resistant superbugs.
Using one of the most common antibiotics, called tetracycline, researchers in Sweden, Germany and Hungary, created a computer model to see how the medication interacted with bits of plastic that were less than one thousandth the thickness of a credit card.
They then tested what they learned in the model on human cells grown in the lab. It turns out that the antibiotics bind to the surface of the tiny plastic molecules.
This can cause the drugs to ‘hitchhike’ a ride on pieces of plastic circulating in the blood stream, being carried away from the infection they are meant to cure and to parts of the body they aren’t meant for, becoming less effective overall.
And because of how prominent microplastic pollution is in the environment and in our bodies, being found from the deepest sections of the ocean to Mount Everest, researchers are concerned antibiotics used to treat life-threatening illnesses will no longer be effective.
Lead author Lukas Kenner, a professor at Department of molecular biology at Umeå University in Sweden, said: ‘The results are alarming considering how common nanoplastics are and because effective antibiotics for many can be the difference between life and death.’
Prof Kenner suggested the plastic-hijacking drugs may make antibiotic-resistant super bugs more common.
An illustration of Bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria that can cause pneumonia, urinary tract infections and wound infections. Studies show that some strains have evolved to become antibiotic resistant making Bacterium Pseudomonas one of the six biggest global killers in 2019
Because using antibiotics incorrectly can make colonies of bacteria grow and mutate more rapidly, these microplastics could make it easier for bacteria to become impervious to the drugs designed to treat them.
And if bacteria or fungi become resistant to antibiotics, they can grow and spread unchecked, making usually treatable infections impossible to cure.
According to the CDC, about 2.8million of these infections occur each year – killing about 35,000 Americans annually. The most common include Streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes pneumonia, Enterobacteriaceae, which causes food poisoning and Staphylococcus aureus, which causes skin infections.
The CDC deems this trend, which is continuing to grow, an ‘urgent global threat’.
The new research linking plastics to this problem was published in the journal of Scientific Reports, and it focused on four different kinds of nanoplastics.
These are bits of plastic that have broken down to be smaller than one thousandth millimeter in length – even smaller than microplastics, which are five millimeters or less in size.
These come from polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and nylon – found in plastic packaging, Styrofoam and clothes with synthetic materials like nylon.
Heating, tearing or wearing down any of these materials can cause tiny bits of the product to flake off, where they’re buoyed by air or water.
These are invisible to the naked eye, able to be breathed in through the tiny tracts in our lungs or swallowed.
From there, they get into humans when we breathe or drink water containing the particles.
They’ve become so common that researchers have found them in human blood, breast milk and brains. According to the researchers, these particles are about five times more abundant in indoor air than in outdoor air.
For their research, the team used a computer algorithm that was able to model the how the antibiotics dissolve and interact with the pieces of plastic, then predict how they get used within the body.
They used one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics, tetracycline – which treats everything from acne to pneumonia to infections spread by ticks.
Researchers found all four types of plastic could adsorb the antibiotic itself, carrying it around the blood stream away from the infection they were designed to treat.
The particles from nylon were the most adsorptive, followed by polystyrene, polypropylene and polyethylene.
The authors said nylon is one of the most common nanoplastics found in indoor air.
Nylon is a strong, stretchy synthetic fiber commonly found in activewear, seat belts and ropes.
Nanoplastics are between 1 and 1000 nanometers in sizer, smaller than is visible by the naked eye. These are even smaller than microplastics, pictured above, which are five millimeters or less in size
After using computer models, the researchers tested the scenario on human cells grown in a test tube.
They did this by adding samples of the nanoplastic to the test tube and then applying the antibiotic to it.
The results mirrored what was found in the computer modeling – showing the amount of antibiotic that ended up in the cells was altered when plastic was present, as antibiotic molecules stuck to the surface of the nanoplastics instead of heading straight into the cells to attack an infection.
Prof Kenner said: ‘Although more research is needed to shed light on the connections and possible measures, we can conclude from our results that Nanoplastics are a health risk that should be taken more seriously.’
Antibiotics are a powerful class of drugs used to kill bacteria and fungi that make people sick, but the pathogens are living organisms that sometimes can evolve evolve and fight back against the drugs designed to destroy them.
Not following the proper instructions for taking an antibiotic, stopping it too early, missing doses or mixing it with substances that weaken it, can make it more likely you develop antibiotic resistance.
Tetracycline (pictured) is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics. Similar drugs include doxycycline, Minocycline and Omadacycline
For example, sometimes people stop taking their antibiotics when they feel better, not when they’ve finished their prescription.
Doing so can potentially leave a colony of bacteria behind, which can then multiply and mutate, morphing into a strain resistant to the medicine.
The researchers suggested nanoplastics could be having a similar affect, by making antibiotics less effective.
The new study comes as scientists warn antibiotic resistance is on the rise.
Recent research from the Global Burden of Disease Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators suggested that if current trends persist, by 2050, there will be 39million deaths attributed to antimicrobial resistance every year.
This means illnesses that are easily treatable now, like urinary tract infections or food poisoning, could become deadly.
Therefore, the WHO calls antimicrobial resistance ‘one of the top global public health and development threats.’
Aside from products in our homes, other sources of nanoplastics include tires, cosmetics and seed coatings.
Older studies have linked the particles to a host of health problems, from delayed development to colon cancer to mood, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
It’s difficult to avoid plastics in every day life, but there are steps you can take, Dr Sheela Sathyanarayana, professor in the University of Washington Department of Pediatrics told AAMC.
This includes using stainless steel water bottles instead of single use plastics, avoiding re-heating food in plastic containers, buying glass, wood or steel kitchen utensils and taking off your shoes when you come home to avoid tracking in dust.