Metabolised antibiotics can drive antimicrobial resistance just as much as their parent compounds

Petri dish

Source: © Saiful52/Shutterstock

Studies on wastewater show that antibiotic transformation products may play an underappreciated role in driving antimicrobial resistance

Metabolites of antibiotic drugs have been shown to drive antibiotic resistance in bacteria, in some cases to the same degree as the antibiotic itself. The finding has researchers rethinking how antibiotics and their metabolites behave in our waterways.