Using antibiotics to kill bacteria might accidentally turn the survivors into "super-bugs" that are immune to UV light and high pressure.
April 10, 2026
Original Paper
Ciprofloxacin resistance in Salmonella drives cross-protection to UV-C and HHP via rpoD mutation
SSRN · 6546056
The Takeaway
A specific mutation that protects Salmonella from the drug ciprofloxacin also makes the bacteria up to 2,000 times more resistant to common food safety treatments. This means medical treatments could be creating 'superbugs' that are also much harder to kill with standard industrial sterilization.
From the abstract
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains a major public health concern, being the agri-food chain crucial in the emergence and dissemination of resistant pathogens such as Salmonella Typhimurium. Effective hygienization is key to prevent access of AMR bacteria into the agri-food chain. In this work, we investigated the consequences of ciprofloxacin (CIP) resistance acquisition in S. Typhimurium on tolerance to emerging non-thermal preservation technologies, including pulsed electric fields (PEF),