Microplastic May Fuel Antibiotic Resistance: Study

They say this is especially concerning for people in high-density, impoverished areas like refugee settlements, where discarded plastic piles up and bacterial infections spread easily.

- CORRESPONDENT

In a startling discovery, a team of Boston University researchers found that bacteria exposed to microplastics became resistant to multiple types of antibiotics commonly used to treat infections.

Microplastics -- tiny shards of plastic debris -- are all over the planet. They have made their way up food chains, accumulated in oceans, clustered in clouds and on mountains, and been found inside our bodies at alarming rates.

Scientists have been racing to uncover the unforeseen impacts of so much plastic in and around us.

One possible, and surprising, consequence: more drug-resistant bacteria.

They say this is especially concerning for people in high-density, impoverished areas like refugee settlements, where discarded plastic piles up and bacterial infections spread easily.

The study is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.