CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Although humans have been using antibiotics for only the past 60 years, antibiotic resistance genes have been around for thousands, maybe even millions, of years. In a new study published online in Nature today (August 31), researchers report finding genes encoding resistance to commonly used antibiotics such as penicillin, tetracycline, and vancomycin in 30,000 year-old bacterial samples from the Canadian permafrost.
Microbiologists have long suspected that antibiotic resistance genes have existed for much longer than antibiotics have been in use—perhaps even as long as microbes have been around—but “the data had not been there,” said Stuart Levy, a professor of microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine who was not involved with the study. “This really is a solid piece of paper that shows that ...
