Representational photo.

NEW DELHI: A study published by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found antibiotic resistant organisms in the digestive tracts of two out of every three healthy persons that it tested, pointing to a rapid spread of antibiotic resistance in the Indian population.

The study was based on analysis of stool samples of 207 individuals who had not taken any antibiotic for at least a month and did not suffer from any chronic illness.

Isolates retrieved from 139 out of the 207 individuals were found to be resistant to one or more antibiotic class. The maximum resistance was seen for cephalosphorins (60%) followed by fluoroquinolones (41.5%) – two commonly used antibiotics .

Dr Pallab Ray, professor of medicine microbiology at PGI Chandigarh who led the study, told TOI that the findings should be treated as a warning alert.

“Our study shows how inappropriate use of antibiotics has transformed the healthy human intestinal gut flora (microorganisms living in the digestive tract) into a reservoir of antibiotic-resistant organisms. At present, these organisms are resistant to low-end antibiotics but if the misuse persists, these may become resistant to high-end antibiotics as well,” Dr Ray said.

In the study, only 2% isolates were found to be multi-drug resistant.

Dr S K Sarin, director of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) said the presence of antibiotic resistance in healthy individuals was a cause for concern because this signalled that it would get more difficult to treat infections in the future.

Inappropriate use of antibiotics such as popping pills for mild ailments like common cold is the biggest cause of drug resistance in humans. But there are other factors contributing to this crisis. These include rampant use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry animals, and improper disposal of residual antibiotics that eventually enter the food chain.

“There are as many bacteria in our body as the number of cells. They perform a host of functions to keep the body alive, for example processing the food we eat and modulating the immune system. The antibiotic resistant bacteria aren’t healthy so they cannot perform these functions well. Also, if the bacteria become resistant to commonly available antibiotics, it may get difficult to treat diseases caused by infections involving them,” Dr Sarin said.

In 2015, researchers from AIIMS’ ocular pharmacology division started studying pharmaceutical contamination in the Yamuna to explain the emergence of superbugs.

The team, headed by Dr T Velpandian, analysed water samples from seven places along the river, including its entry and exit points in the city, 35 borewells in Delhi NCR and water percolating through waste at the Ghazipur landfill. They found that the concentration of dissolved drugs in the river water increased as the Yamuna made its way through the city.

“We need a multi-pronged strategy to contain this crisis. It should include stopping misuse of the drugs in humans, animals and proper disposal mechanism so the antibiotics don’t end up in the environment,” Dr Ray said.



In Video: Most healthy Indians resistant to common antibiotics, study reveals