A new study has revealed that air pollution could affect people's health in more ways than previously thought. Researchers from Gothenburg, Sweden have discovered that polluted air plays an important role in the transmission of drug-resistant bacteria.

The team stated that samples of air collected from Beijing, China contained bacterial DNA genes which are suggestive of resistance to even the strongest antibiotics available on the market. The said genes were examined in 864 collected samples from animals and humans.

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The research also revealed that the genes are more commonly found in the air compared to water, soil, and sediments. Polluted air in industrial areas such as Beijing smog and airflow from pharmaceutical companies show the highest population and diversity of these genes. Meanwhile, sludge or wastewater also show high levels of resistant DNA segments.

Joakim Larsson, the director of the Center for Antibiotic Resistance Research at the University of Gothenburg, said that they only studied a small number of samples and more air samples from different parts of the world have to be examined.

"But the air samples we did analyze showed a wide mix of different resistance genes. Of particular concern is that we found a series of genes that provide resistance to carbapenems, a group of last resort antibiotics taken for infections caused by bacteria that are often very difficult to treat," he added. Carbapenems belong to the beta-lactam group that kills microbes through binding and inhibition of cell wall synthesis.

Resistance to antibiotics is one of the most dangerous risks today. This might result in shorter life expectancy due to increased deaths from diseases that cannot be addressed by antimicrobials.

The study was published in the journal Microbiome.

Larsson said that it "it is reasonable to believe that there is a mixture of live and dead bacteria, based on experience from other studies of air."