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Fossilized human feces from 14th century contain antibiotic resistance genes

• thret 13y ago
  This is one of those annoying sites that will surprise you with a second auto-playing video after you've paused the first one.
  • db48x 13y ago
    Yea, I was surprised when Firefox opened a second infobar to ask me if another flash plugin should be allowed, after I'd closed the first. I should probably file a bug.
• aroch 13y ago
  This isn't particularly surprising, I'm not sure why this is "big news". Many antibiotics are naturally occurring and fairly common
  • ars 13y ago
    Many? I believe all of them are based on antibiotics found in nature. They have been modified somewhat for various reasons (including patents), but the basic action hasn't changed.
    • aroch 13y ago
      Not all, there are a bunch of commercial, synthetic antibiotics. I can think of a few that aren't even sold for their antibiotic properties but instead because of other beneficial effects such as depression treatment (MAOI)
      • deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
      • ars 13y ago
        MAOI led me to oxazolidinone which is indeed synthetic, so I stand corrected. Still very rare to have a synthetic antibiotic, but I guess it does exist.
• yeukhon 13y ago
  Honest question: what is it in the photo. Looks like poo to me... Speaking of finding antibiotic resistance in nature, I just learned that only a few countries and cities are pushing household medication/drugs waste disposal program. Basically drugs can contaminate soil and water, animals, insects and bacteria can get sick or developed immunity to drugs. Sometimes these drugs can be leathal to the environment. Imagine eating a fish which has been living in a lake contaminated with human drugs! http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/healthwaste/householdpharm.html http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/healthwaste/householdpharm.html