Beijing Home to the Widest Variety of Airborne Superbugs, Threatening Our Ability to Fight Infection

Denizens of Beijing may have resigned themselves to regularly checking local AQI levels to protect themselves from the city's notorious air pollution. And yet, the air above urban centers like Beijing have been discovered to be hiding what may be a more serious threat.

A recent scientific report has found multiple cities around the world to be hosts to airborne bacteria susceptible to antibiotic resistance genes (ARG), which can spread easily through the air.

Out of a list of 19 cities selected for the study, San Francisco was discovered to have the highest concentration of ARGs followed by Beijing in second place. Other Chinese cities included on the list include Haikou at third place and Hong Kong (14th), Shanghai (16th), and Guangzhou (17th).

READ: World Health Organization Sounds Alarm on Abuse of Antibiotics in China

While it didn't have the most, Beijing was nevertheless named as the city on the list with the widest diversity of ARG subtypes at 18. However, even though Beijing air contains superbugs that can't be controlled with antibiotics like quinolone and tetracycline, a correlation does not appear to exist between smog and ARGs.

Commissioned by the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at our very own Peking University, the study surprisingly found that polluted cities home to levels of higher particulate matter are not necessarily more at risk for hosting antibiotic resistant genes.

"For some cities with good air quality, we have detected higher abundances of ARGs, even including ARGs that are tailored to resist the most powerful antibiotics," said study author Yao Maosheng. 

READ: Make Your Own DIY Air Filter for RMB 166

Yao suggests ARGs originate from hospitals, animal feeding operations or wastewater treatment plants, of which the water from the latter is known to easily aerosolize. These genes pose a risk to human health because once they are absorbed by airborne bacteria, they can not be controlled with antibiotics, thereby signifying an increasing number of infections will not be able to be treated in the future.

The World Health Organization has warned that the world may enter a "post-antibiotic" era where drugs are ineffectual. Some estimates say superbugs will be responsible for killing some 10 million people a year by 2050.

But, before you give in to despair, there's some good news to all of this, and it has to do with the way you already protect yourself (or, should be protecting yourself). That's because, despite the threat posed by these genetically-enhanced bacteria, they can still be filtered out using air purifiers and face masks.

READ: Beijing's Air is Filthier Than Your Crotch, But Don't Panic Just Yet

HEPA-standard filters are engineered to trap airborne particles 0.3 micrometers (µm) and larger in diameter as are air masks set to the NIOSH N95 air filtration standard. By comparison, most bacteria are sized 0.5–5.0 micrometers in length.

For this reason, Beijing residents may in fact be better equipped and trained to protect themselves against the menace of airborne superbugs due to their familiarity with daily anti-smog measures. We suppose, however, that's not much of a silver lining ... at least not when you clean the exterior of your air purifiers.

More stories from this author here.

E-Mail: charlesliu1 (at) qq (dot) com
Twitter: @Sinopath

Images: Michigan Engineering