‘Pharmaceutical cocktail’ in waterways could be promoting antibiotic resistance: study – CTV
October 15, 2025
Mixtures of commonly used medications that end up in waterways and the natural environment could be promoting the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to a new study.
As much as 90 per cent of the medications humans and animals use end up passing through the body and into the natural environment via wastewater or runoff from fields, researchers behind the study say.
“We’ve found that the kind of common medications that many people might routinely take can form a pharmaceutical cocktail in the environment and our waterways that promotes antibiotic resistance,” lead author and University of Exeter microbiologist April Hayes said in a news release.
“This poses a potential threat to human health, because if we then ingest these bacteria and are infected, we may not be able to easily treat them, as antibiotics are more likely to fail.”
The study was published Tuesday in the International Society for Microbial Ecology’s journal ISME Communications.
