Non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals are toxic against Escherichia coli with no evolution of cross-resistance to antibiotics.

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial resistance can arise in the natural environment via prolonged exposure to the effluent released by manufacturing facilities. In addition to antibiotics, pharmaceutical plants also produce non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals, both the active ingredients and other components of the formulations. The effect of these on the surrounding microbial communities is less clear. We aimed to assess whether non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals and other compounds produced by pharmaceutical plants have inherent toxicity, and whether long-term exposure might result in significant genetic changes or select for cross-resistance to antibiotics. To this end, we screened four non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals (acetaminophen, ibuprofen, propranolol, metformin) and titanium dioxide for toxicity against Escheric

SUBMITTER: Hall RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11721113 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature