Beware the hospital sink drain.
Researchers at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain led the study,publishedFriday inFrontiers in Microbiology.
Antibiotic resistance is one of the most pressing public health issues of our time.
A scanning electron micrograph of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or MRSA (in yellow), surrounding a dead human white blood cell (in red)© National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)/NIH
Itsalready estimatedthat these infections kill at least 1.27 million people worldwide annually, including 35,000 Americans a year.
Antimicrobials are widely used in these places, directly fueling resistance.
The researchers wanted to test how effective these protective measures truly are.
They analyzed sink drains from a single university hospital on the island of Majorca that was built in 2001.
All told, they identified 67 different bacterial species from the drains.
Once established in sink drains, they can spread outwards, posing significant risks to immunocompromised patients above all.
Obviously, the researchers arent saying that hospitals should stop cleaning their sink drains.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
