A research project at Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University Hospital is investigating how plastic particles and climate change contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment. The project, led by Prof. Dr. Joacim Rocklov, Humboldt Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing and the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, involves eleven international partners, including the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in the Philippine Department of Health.
Funded by the European Union with over six million euros, this four-and-a-half-year project aims to explore socio-ecological interactions within aquatic habitats affected by plastic pollution, antibiotic contamination, and climate change, focusing on environmental and health impacts in the context of Planetary Health.
Prof. Rocklov, who heads the Climate-Sensitive Infectious Diseases Lab (CSIDlab), emphasizes the need for scientific research to demonstrate how plastic pollution combined with antibiotic contaminants contributes to AMR in water bodies, posing risks to human, animal, and ecosystem health, particularly under climate change conditions. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are found in seas, rivers, ponds, and lakes, posing infection risks, especially to individuals with open wounds who bathe in these waters.
Additionally, water environments are increasingly polluted by micro and macro plastic particles, which facilitate the growth and colonization of bacteria, forming a unique micro-ecosystem known as ‘the plastisphere’. These bacteria can exchange genes, including those responsible for antibiotic resistance, explains Dr. Marina Treskova, co-director of the research.
Climate change can further aggravate the spread of AMR in aquatic environments through extreme weather patterns. Dr. Treskova underscores the need to understand these interactions to find monitoring and prevention solutions to protect planetary health. Wastewater treatment plants, which collect urban and hospital wastewater, serve as critical study sites for accumulating antibiotics, bacteria, and plastic waste.
