![Polluted City Air May Have Traces of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Polluted City Air May Have Traces of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/check-your-genes.jpg)
‘The polluted city air may be a more important means of transmission for the antibiotic resistant bacteria than previously thought.’
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"In the air samples from Beijing, we found a series of genes that provide resistance to carbapenems -- a group of last resort antibiotics taken for infections caused by bacteria that are often very difficult to treat," said Joakim Larsson, Professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. ![twitter](https://images.medindia.net/icons/news/social/twitter.png)
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The polluted city air may be a more important means of transmission than previously thought, he added. The results, however, do not show whether the sampled bacteria were actually alive in the air, which would make them a real threat.
"It is reasonable to believe that there is a mixture of live and dead bacteria, based on experience from other studies of air," Larsson added. The researchers next plan to find out if resistance spreads through air from European sewage treatment plants.
"We're going to let treatment plant employees carry air samplers. We will also study their bacterial flora and fauna of people who live very close and farther away, and see if there seems to be a connection to the treatment plants," Larsson said.
Source-IANS