{"id":96378,"date":"2025-08-26T05:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T05:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96378\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T05:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T05:14:09","slug":"common-painkillers-like-ibuprofen-and-paracetamol-linked-to-one-of-the-worlds-biggest-health-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96378\/","title":{"rendered":"Common painkillers like ibuprofen and paracetamol linked to one of the world&#8217;s biggest health threats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A common household staple has been linked to one of the \ufeffworld&#8217;s biggest health threats: antibiotic resistance.<\/p>\n<p>Now \ufeffresearch from \ufeffthe University of South Australia has revealed common painkillers such as \ufeff\ufeffibuprofen and paracetamol have been fuelling antibiotic resistance.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/659ca269-c164-455c-8399-c6d64b998f8f.jpeg\"   alt=\"Man looking at medicine\"\/>Common painkillers like \ufeff\ufeffibuprofen and paracetamol have been fuelling antibiotic resistance. (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>The first-of-its-kind study found the two drugs drove resistance when used \ufeffindividually and could even amplify it when used together.<\/p>\n<p>In one instance, researchers discovered that using \ufeffibuprofen and paracetamol alongside the broad-spectrum antibiotic ciprofloxacin to treat Escherichia coli (E. coli) led to significantly increased bacterial mutations.<\/p>\n<p>That made \ufeffthe E. coli highly resistant to the antibiotic.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Worryingly, the bacteria were not only resistant to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, but increased resistance was also observed to multiple other antibiotics from different classes,&#8221; lead researcher Associate Professor Rietie Venter said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We also uncovered the genetic mechanisms behind this resistance, with ibuprofen and paracetamol both activating the bacteria&#8217;s defences to expel antibiotics and render them less effective.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/content\/2022\/10\/13\/10\/54\/greatest-health-freedoms-study-where-australia-ranks-in-the-world-in-pictures\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/a79a91ae-1867-4061-8ca1-5c8ac88a1c3f.png\"   alt=\"NH\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Where Australia ranks in countries with the greatest health freedoms<\/p>\n<p>Researchers also assessed the effects of several other medications\ufeff on antibiotic resistance, including metformin \ufeffand pseudoephedrine.<\/p>\n<p>The results made it clear that \ufeff&#8221;antibiotic resistance isn&#8217;t just about antibiotics anymore&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Antibiotics have long been vital in treating infectious diseases, but their widespread overuse and misuse have driven a global rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria,&#8221; Venter \ufeffsaid.<\/p>\n<p>The study suggested further studies into the impacts of other drugs on \ufeffantibiotic effectiveness were required in order to better understand and tackle the issue.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/7dc59300-262c-485d-ac33-8ffc840f91de.jpeg\"   alt=\"Close up mature woman hands hold pill and glass of natural clean water. Older generation female take analgetic painkiller drug. Painful old age, caring for health of senior citizen, daily meds concept\"\/>Venter said &#8220;antibiotic resistance isn&#8217;t just about antibiotics anymore&#8221;. (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>This was increasingly important\ufeff for \ufeffvulnerable groups, such as people in aged care homes where many residents took multiple medications daily.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This doesn&#8217;t mean we should stop using these medications, but we do need to be more mindful about how they interact with antibiotics \u2013 and that includes looking beyond just two-drug combinations.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A common household staple has been linked to one of the \ufeffworld&#8217;s biggest health threats: antibiotic resistance. Now&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-96378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}