Toothpaste
and hand wash may contribute to antibiotic resistance
University of
Queensland (Australia)
A common ingredient in
toothpaste and hand wash could be contributing to antibiotic resistance,
according to University of Queensland research.
A study led by Dr Jianhua Guo from
UQ’s Advanced Water Management Centre focused
on triclosan, a compound used in more than 2000 personal care products.
Dr Guo said while it
was well-known the overuse and misuse of antibiotics could create ‘superbugs’,
researchers were unaware that other chemicals could also induce antibiotic
resistance until now.
“Wastewater from
residential areas has similar or even higher levels of antibiotic resistant
bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes compared to hospitals, where you
would expect greater antibiotic concentrations,” he said.
“We then wondered whether non-antibiotic, antimicrobial (NAAM) chemicals such as triclosan can directly induce antibiotic resistance,” Dr Guo said.
“These chemicals are
used in much larger quantities at an everyday level, so you end up with high
residual levels in the wider environment, which can induce multi-drug
resistance.
“This discovery
provides strong evidence that the triclosan found in personal care products
that we use daily is accelerating the spread of antibiotic resistance.”
Advanced Water
Management Centre Director, Professor Zhiguo Yuan, said the discovery should be
a wake-up call to re-evaluate the potential impact of such chemicals.
“While the US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the use of triclosan in antibacterial
soap, the previous lack of unequivocal evidence prevented such a policy being
adopted in other countries,” Professor Yuan said.
Antimicrobial
resistance has become a major threat to public health globally with
approximately 700,000 people a year dying from antimicrobial-resistant
infections.
The Review on
Antimicrobial Resistance report predicted this will reach 10 million
deaths a year by 2050 if no action is taken now.
The study, published
in Environment
International, was funded by the Australian Research Council Future
Fellowship, and the UQ Foundation
Research Excellence Awards.