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Hospital sewers may be breeding grounds for dangerous superbugs, study finds

The study also did not determine whether the growth of resistant bacteria in hospital sewers leads to more infections in patients or surrounding communities.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 1 source•1 min read•Updated November 12, 2026, 7:43 PM UTC
Key points
  • DANGEROUS DRUG-RESISTANT FUNGUS SPREADS ACROSS US, REACHING 27 STATES The researchers conducted a study involving wastewater from 10 hospitals and eight municipal wastewater treatment plants.
  • Although the study did not directly link hospital wastewater to human infections, Larsson said resistant bacteria could potentially reach people through contaminated water.
  • "Knowing where resistant bacteria are promoted — and where they are less likely to be — is crucial when deciding how resources and efforts should be allocated to limit risks for antibiotic resistance development." The study had several limitations.

Hospital wastewater has been shown to promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, potentially making sewer systems hotspots for antimicrobial resistance, according to a new Swedish study published in Nature Communications.

Additional details
  • They wanted to determine whether hospital wastewater actually promoted the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, rather than simply carrying resistant bacteria from patients.
  • Antibiotics taken by patients can pass through their bodies and enter hospital sewer systems, creating conditions that favor the growth of resistant bacteria.
  • First, the researchers filtered hospital wastewater to remove existing bacteria, then exposed other bacteria to the filtered water in laboratory experiments.
  • DEATH REPORTED IN E COLI OUTBREAK LINKED TO CALIFORNIA PUMPKIN PATCH AS MORE CASES EMERGE This suggested that something in the wastewater itself was helping antibiotic-resistant bacteria thrive, according to the researchers.
  • coli and a limited number of antibiotics, so the findings may not apply to all bacteria or locations.

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