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Resistance To Antibiotics Found In Isolated Amazonian Tribe
sciencehabit writes When scientists first made contact with an isolated village of Yanomami hunter-gatherers in the remote mountains of the Amazon jungle of Venezuela in 2009, they marveled at the chance to study the health of people who had never been exposed to Western medicine or diets. But much to their surprise, these Yanomami's gut bacteria have already evolved a diverse array of antibiotic-resistance genes, according to a new study, even though these mountain people had never ingested antibiotics or animals raised with drugs. The find suggests that microbes have long evolved the capability to fight toxins, including antibiotics, and that preventing drug resistance may be harder than scientists thought.
It should be possible to figure out which it is by comparing the genome of the resistant bacteria, and see if they have common genes for the resistance.
But I don't see why it would be so difficult for the local bacteria to develop resistance. Many antibiotics are based on stuff we find in nature, and the amazonian tribe probably uses natural substances to fight diseases. Resistance would be a logical result of that.