Chemical in Consumer Products Can Hinder Antibiotics

In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cited both safety concerns and lack of efficacy when it recommended against adding triclosan to consumer soaps, but these guidelines have not discouraged companies from adding it to other products. What’s more, Levin said, “Triclosan is very stable. It lingers in the body and in the environment for a long time.” The new study in mice uncovers the extent to which triclosan exposure limits the body’s ability to respond to antibiotic treatment for urinary tract infection. It also sheds new light on the cellular mechanism that allows triclosan to interfere with antibiotic treatment. Escaping death Some antibiotics kill bacterial cells, while others keep them from growing. Levin and her colleagues were particularly interested in bactericidal antibiotics — those that can kill bacterial cells and are typically prescribed by doctors to treat bacterial infections. They wanted to know whether triclosan could protect bacteria from death in the presence of killing antibiotics. Corey Westfall, postdoctoral scholar in the Levin lab, treated bacterial cells with bactericidal antibiotics and tracked their ability to survive over time. In one group, the bacteria were exposed to triclosan prior to being given the bactericidal antibiotic. In the other group, they were not. “Triclosan increased the number of surviving bacterial cells substantially,” Levin said. “Normally, one in a million cells survive antibiotics, and a functioning immune system can control them. But triclosan was shifting the number of cells. Instead of only one in a million bacteria surviving, one in 10 organisms survived after 20 hours. Now, the immune system is overwhelmed.” https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/chemical-in-consumer-product-can-hinder-antibiotics-315756?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=70157326&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9WV7d07gfYAEd4JTyjvRqySx6_jd9fvm0RQJ8e-UxRJy_8Zjj9QbVyigBcwSxctIDC3VkdI0KF1aqnoVEwUkE7NXinwA&_hsmi=70157326