A recent study demonstrates a new approach that may allow scientists to better approximate the risks for bacteria to develop resistance to different families of antibiotics.
In the study, conducted by NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, resistance genes from E. coli bacteria were found to be nearly a thousand times higher in sediments downstream of a sewage treatment plant than in the effluent at the source of the plant. This indicates that antibiotic resistance genes may be transferred to marine pathogens such as Vibrio bacteria. Vibrio bacteria are common to estuarine and marine waters and include the pathogens that cause minor gastrointestinal disorders, serious wound infections, and cholera.
via New Research Points to Better Method to Weigh Risk of Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria | National Ocean Service.