Soil Bacteria Show High Resistance to Antibiotics

Miraba writes "Microbiologists have found that soil-dwelling bacteria are highly resistant to antibiotics, even ones that they've never been exposed to before. While this information suggests that superbugs could arise from these bacteria, it also provides the opportunity for testing new techniques in drug development for the future."

Comments

Re: Suggests the opposite perhaps?

[Black Parrot]

> Taking a wild ass guess I would be unsurprised if it turned out that the reason soil based bugs show such resistance is because some other bug is already using this antibiotic and they had to develop resistance to survive. For example, look at Penicilin which is naturually produced by mold presumably for this very reason: to kill bacteria.

We've been putting antibiotics in animal feed for a long time now. Probably the environment is "polluted" with it just like with pesticides, mercury, etc.

Dirt's a tough place to live

[HangingChad]

Soil is pretty difficult environment for survival. You could make the case those microbes have earned the right to live there by being tough sonsabitches. When we wanted antibiotic resistant bacteria, we used to go take samples at the hospital. Some of those cultures were scary. The bugs that survive at the hospital are the toughest mofo's on the culture block.

Just like weeds picking up resistance to herbicides. With the rampant application of weed killer, we're actually breeding tougher weeds.

There's a reason they survive. It's because they're tough and adaptable. Sets up an interesting situation. We depend on modern herbicides and pesticides to maintain the food production it takes to feed a planet that's already over-crowded. But the weeds and insects we're trying to kill aren't sissies. At some point the chemicals we have to use to kill them are start going to take a toll on us.

Or maybe they already are.

Re:Another diet change

[Sen.NullProcPntr]

It's not likely that the bacteria in question can infect you. Your insides are a very different environment than Canadian mud. (Otherwise anyone who got a cut while out gardening would die from infection.)

According to TFA; the real danger is if the dirt bacteria cross with bacteria that can infect humans. They seem to imply that this is likely to happen and may have already happened (resistant staph infections).

Why this would suddenly come to light may have more to do with research funding coming up than any real danger. After all humans have been around dirt for a long time.

But I'm the suspicious type.

So, go ahead and have another serving of dirt;-)

Er, Um soil is where we GET the antibiotics!

[Ancient_Hacker]

There's a very good reason the bacteria in the soil are resistant to antibiotics, and you don't need a fancy new study to figure this out.

If you research where antibiotics come from, where drug companies have for 50 years or more looked for new antibiotics, it's in the dang soil!

yes, scientists figured out long ago to not just set out pertri dishes and hope for new varieties of spores to come to them-- they've gone out into the world collecting soil and the concomitant spores. IIRC the majority of antibiotics in use were found in the soil of various places, all over the world.

Nothing new here.

Well, no kidding...

[Angst Badger]

I hate to belabor the obvious, but it's no wonder soil bacteria are resistant to antibiotics: they live in close proximity with the same fungi that evolved antibiotic chemicals to combat them. While we humans are doing a pretty poor job of judiciously using antibiotics and we are probably creating some real long-term problems by polluting the environment with antibiotics and disinfectants, we shouldn't forget that we didn't invent antibiotics, we discovered them. There are going to be lots of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics simply because they evolved in an environment rich in fungi that produce them.

If you want to worry about antibiotic resistant bacteria capable of causing disease in humans, hospitals are a much bigger breeding ground than soil, which harbors innumerable species of bacteria that are harmless to us or even beneficial agriculturally, and only a few that can do us harm.