• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission September 28, 2023
Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds September 28, 2023
Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab September 28, 2023
Put Lower-Income Households First in Line for Low-Carbon Technologies: Samson September 28, 2023
Fossil Fuels Fall 25% by 2030, Renewables ‘Keep the Path Open’ in IEA Net-Zero Update September 26, 2023
Next
Prev

Rising Air Pollution Helps Deadly Bacteria Build Resistance to Antibiotics

August 30, 2023
Reading time: 3 minutes

NIAID/wikimedia commons

NIAID/wikimedia commons

1
SHARES
 

Particulate pollution is worsening a crisis in antibiotic resistance that is already killing an estimated 1.3 million people per year, concludes a new study that spanned more than 100 countries and nearly two decades.

The analysis by researchers from China and the United Kingdom, published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal earlier this month, “indicates that increased air pollution is linked with rising antibiotic resistance across every country and continent,” The Guardian reports. “It also suggests the link between the two has strengthened over time, with increases in air pollution levels coinciding with larger rises in antibiotic resistance.”

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Antibiotic resistance has been a problem for decades, and it’s still caused primarily by overuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans and veterinary care. The more a new drug is used, the less time it takes to lose its effectiveness, as rapidly-evolving bacteria begin to develop immunity. As far back as the late 1990s, medical researchers also believed that different types of bacteria could trade genes, allowing resistance to specific drugs to spread more quickly.

Drug-resistant bacteria get a head start anytime anyone stops taking their antibiotics because they felt better before their prescription were used up, and anytime a factory farm injects herds of livestock with antibiotics to prevent a disease before it breaks out. The result that doctors and researchers have been scrambling to ward off is that common infections like staph could become deadly because there are no drugs available to treat them—just as they were until the first antibiotic, penicillin went into widespread use in 1943.

Air pollution was already recognized as the biggest environmental risk to human health, with long-term exposure linked to chronic conditions like heart disease, asthma, and lung cancer. Now, the new research shows the risk of antibiotic resistance being amplified by air pollution of all kinds—like emissions from fossil-fuelled power plants and refineries and gas stoves, and particulates and other pollutants in wildfire smoke.

“Evidence suggests that particulate matter PM 2.5 can contain antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes, which may be transferred between environments and inhaled directly by humans,” The Guardian writes. So “controlling air pollution could greatly reduce deaths and economic costs stemming from antibiotic-resistant infections.”

“Antibiotic resistance and air pollution are each in their own right among the greatest threats to global health,” said lead author Prof. Hong Chen of China’s Zhejiang University. “Until now, we didn’t have a clear picture of the possible links between the two, but this work suggests the benefits of controlling air pollution could be twofold: not only will it reduce the harmful effects of poor air quality, it could also play a major role in combatting the rise and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”

The study authors acknowledged limitations in their own data and called for further research to better understand how air pollution affects antibiotic resistance. But based on the available information, they concluded that every 10% rise in PM 2.5 increases antibiotic resistance by 1.1%. By 2050, with no changes to current policies, air pollution could trigger a 17% increase in drug resistance, leading to 840,000 premature deaths in that year.



in Cities & Communities, Coal, Drought & Wildfires, Environmental Justice, Health & Safety, International Agencies & Studies, Oil & Gas

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Iota 9/Wikimedia Commons
Cities & Communities

‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission

September 28, 2023
1
Solarimo/pixabay
Ending Emissions

Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds

September 28, 2023
2
Duffins Agriculture Preserve/North Country House Media via Greenbelt Foundation
Ontario

Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab

September 28, 2023
151

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Cullen328/wikimedia commons

Manufactured Housing Could Dent the Affordable Housing Crunch with Energy-Efficient Designs

September 20, 2023
622
Mark Dixon/wikimedia commons

Hundreds of Thousands March in Global Climate Strike

September 19, 2023
211
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
749
Jason Blackeye/Unsplash

Fossil Fuels Fall 25% by 2030, Renewables ‘Keep the Path Open’ in IEA Net-Zero Update

September 28, 2023
403
/Piqusels

‘Beginning of the End’ for Oil and Gas as IEA Predicts Pre-2030 Peak

September 19, 2023
845
Duffins Agriculture Preserve/North Country House Media via Greenbelt Foundation

Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab

September 28, 2023
151

Recent Posts

Iota 9/Wikimedia Commons

‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission

September 28, 2023
1
Solarimo/pixabay

Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds

September 28, 2023
2
DiscoverEganville/wikimedia commons

EV Rentals to Improve Transportation Access for Ontario Townships

September 28, 2023
1
shopblocks/flickr

E-Bikes, Scooters Overwhelm Toronto Bike Lanes

September 28, 2023
2
kelly8843496 / Pixabay

Put Lower-Income Households First in Line for Low-Carbon Technologies: Samson

September 28, 2023
2
Power lines, Mississauga, Canada

Two First Nations Groups Vie to Build Northern Ontario Power Line

September 28, 2023
111
Next Post
Adam Jones/Flickr

New Route, Engineering Glitches Could ‘Significantly’ Raise Trans Mountain Costs

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}