Researchers will be analysing rivers in north-east England as part of a study into the link between pollution and superbugs.<\/p>\n
A team from Durham University has joined a project looking at how metals, sewage and other pollutants interact in rivers and if this encourages the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria, known as superbugs.<\/p>\n
Superbugs become resistant to antibiotics, making infections harder to treat. The team will use advanced genetic techniques to study how pollution affects them.<\/p>\n
One of the team leaders Professor David Graham, who is an expert in antimicrobial resistance, said it would help understand how to reduce risks around superbugs.<\/p>\n
Rivers in the North East and India will be studied as part of the 10-year project, which is led by Imperial College London and funded by the UK government.<\/p>\n
Graham said: “People do not always see the connection between a polluted river and a drug-resistant infection in a hospital, so this project brings environmental and medical research together.<\/p>\n
“By studying both sides in the same way, we can begin to understand where superbugs evolve, how people may encounter them and what we can do to reduce the risk.”<\/p>\n
Durham University said the study brought together medicine, genetics, engineering, modelling and economics.<\/p>\n
The aim is to inform policymakers how they can reduce pollution and slow antibiotic resistance.<\/p>\n
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