Statins and hayfever pills could be fuelling antibiotic resistance by changing the growth of bacteria in the human gut, scientists have found. Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) looked at the impact of 1,000 common drugs on the 40 strains of gut bacteria and found that one quarter were having a negative impact.
Among those discovered to be harmful were simvstatin, one of the commonest statins, the breast cancer drug tamoxifen and the common hayfever medication loratidin. The researchers warn that taking everyday pills may promote antibiotic resistance, as they encourage unhelpful bacteria to develop new resistant strains in the same way as antibiotics.
Around 5,000 people in England die each year because antibiotics have become useless against some infections and experts predict resistance will kill more people than cancer and diabetes combined within 30 years.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer, recently warned that an ‘antibiotic resistance apocalypse’ could end modern medicine, and make surgery, chemotherapy and caesareans too dangerous to carry out. Resistant bacteria are much harder to treat and victims have far worse outcomes.
