As well as soot and exhaust fumes city air could be filling our lungs with antibiotic resistant genes, a study has found.
Some two million people in the US are thought to become infected with drug-resistant bacteria every year, and they could be inhaling them from the air.
The genes which cause bacteria to become immune to medication – antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) – are able to move between different bacteria and also from bacteria into the environment, experts say.
And research by the American Chemical Society revealed scientists have found the airborne genes in farms and parks in America.
This confirms drug resistance could be spread through the air, adding another element to a growing challenge for scientists around the world.
It suggests bacteria could acquire their ability to survive antibiotic treatment – and become superbugs – from the air we breathe.
The researchers added the ways pollution is measured and the public are warned should be changed to explain the risk of breathing in the resistant genes.
