"This challenges the notion that microplastics are merely passive carriers of resistant bacteria and highlights their role as active hotspots for antimicrobial resistance evolution," lead study author Neila Gross, a Boston University PhD candidate, said in a press release from the American Society for Microbiology.

Microplastics provide an excellent bacterial breeding ground that may be contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, a new study says.

Bacteria exposed to microplastics can become resistant to antibiotics, a new study has found. Researchers from the US investigated how bacteria reacted when exposed to different concentrations of microplastics – small plastic pieces measuring less than five millimetres that are omnipresent in the environment and the human body.

The microscopic shards of plastic found in every corner of the planet may be exacerbating antibiotic resistance, a new study has found. Bacteria exposed to these ubiquitous fragments, known as “microplastics,