August-19: In a capsule
- Posted by CERC India
- Posted in August
Excessive hygiene can cause antibiotic resistance   Â
Don’t overdo it
While maintaining hygiene is good for health, excess cleanliness could lead to antibiotic resistance often resulting to death and illness, suggests a new study. The researchers showed that microbial diversity decreases in areas with high levels of hygiene and the diversity of resistances increases.
The team suggested that reduction of antibacterial cleaning agents could be one strategy to improve microbial diversity. The number of people who become ill and die from antibiotic-resistant germs is increasing worldwide, said the study, published in Nature Communications.
Threat of resistance