Contaminated Drinking Water Can Lead to Antibiotic Resistant Bacterial Infections: Study

Researchers focused on tracking E. coli infections within homes, as well as between households in developing communities.

New research suggests that everyday household settings, particularly containers used to store drinking water, may play a bigger role in the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria than previously thought.

According to findings published in the journal Nature Microbiology earlier this month, storing drinking water can increase the chances that harmful bacteria like E. coli spread within homes, particularly in developing regions.

Researchers from U.C. Berkeley looked at how bacteria are transmitted within households, searching for pathways leading to antibiotic resistance, a health issue experts say continues to worsen globally.

The research team, led by Dr. Daniel Daehyun Kim, used a bacterial strain tracking method called Pooled Isolated Colonies-seq (PIC-seq). This allowed them to sequence pools of up to five Escherichia coli colonies, instead of one using traditional methods.

Kim’s team examined strain-sharing and overlap of antibiotic resistance from human, bird and dog feces as well as soil and drinking water between households in urban settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.

They collected 321 samples from 50 households, half of which had access to chlorinated water. In total, researchers isolated 1,516 bacterial colonies and identified 154 instances where bacterial strains were shared between sources.

Researchers determined there were higher rates of E. coli strain cross-contamination within households, suggesting antibiotic-resistant bacteria was also spreading between households.

E. coli sharing from the environment was isolated and cross-contamination between humans and animals was rare. However, sharing between humans was common. Cross-contamination was also common in the drinking water.

Households with chlorinated water had lower rates of E. coli contamination in stored drinking water than those that did not have chlorinated water. The data also showed that when the water was contaminated with E. coli it was much more likely to spread between humans within households.

With more than 500,000 children under the age of 5 dying each year from gastrointestinal bacterial infections, improving access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene is critical to reducing the spread of harmful bacteria. Researchers found that even basic water treatment measures can play a key role in disrupting transmission within households.

Antibiotic Resistance Concerns

Data from a study published in 2024 indicated 40 million people will die from antibiotic-resistant superbugs over the next 25 years unless drastic measures are taken to prevent their spread. Researchers indicated that stewardship practices and improved water treatment options are needed to help prevent the proliferation of resistant bacteria.

While the emergence of bacterial superbugs is largely blamed on the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, contaminated water and bacteria in hospital drains can also allow the superbugs to spread, especially in community settings.

In addition, antibiotic-resistant bacteria is often found on the skin of nursing home residents. The skin acts as a reservoir for the colonization of superbugs, which poses a serious threat for residents since it can migrate into their bodies, and possibly to others, making them sick with infections that are difficult to treat.