Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Plague Major River

The Yamuna River, the largest tributary of the Ganges in India, may be overflowing with antibiotic resistant bacteria as a result of shoddy wastewater treatment, a new study shows.

The study, published in the International Journal of Bio Assays, says these findings could have “serious ecological and public health implications,” according to the Daily Mail.

The backdrop is that inadequate wastewater treatment and other factors have “led to the presence of antibiotics and antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment, particularly in surface waters. Subsequently, it has led to the development of multiple drug resistance in many bacterial species,” the study said, per the Mail.

The study focused on whether bacteria in the river are resistant to common antibiotics including Amikacin, Ampicillin, Norfloxacin, Ofloxacin, and Streptomycin.

“Strengthening the global concern that the development of resistance for antibiotics in bacteria will make the use of these antibiotics ineffective in humans, the study has reported that all the isolated E. coli strains in the Yamuna were found to be resistant to most of the tested antibiotics. This may be explained by high and uncontrolled use of these antibiotics in humans and animals apart from pollution from pharmaceutical companies as well as heavy metals or biocides,” the news report said.

“An ominous concern is extensive emergence of multiple drug resistance among microbes such as E. coli, which inhabit human intestine and readily contaminate drinking water sources like rivers due to faecal contamination. Results of antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that all the isolated E. coli strains were resistant to most of the tested antibiotics,” the study, per the Mail.

Union Minister of State for Water Resources Sanwar Lal Jat confirmed this month that antibiotics can be found in the river.

"Yes. Yamuna water samples collected by [officials] at six locations from Wazirabad to Sarita Vihar were subjected to analysis using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectroscopy for most of the widely-used antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, amoxycillin, sparfloxacin, gentamicin, erythromycin and azithromycin," Jat said, per The Economic Times.

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