The environment could be as important a battle ground as the clinic in the global fight against the spread of antibiotic resistance, new research has shown. A study conducted at the University of Exeter Medical School concluded that when bacteria are exposed to very low concentrations of antibiotics, numbers of antibiotic resistant bacteria increase just as much as at high clinical concentrations. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of today’s greatest global health challenges. The organisation has warned that we may be entering an era in which antibiotics are no longer effective to cure simple, and previously treatable, bacterial infections.

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