Evolution happens: Bacteria becoming resistant to hospital disinfectants

Well, if true this is both troubling and not surprising: Bacteria becoming resistant to hospital disinfectants, warn scientists

The story reports on a paper in Science Translational Medicine. Some quotes:

The results reveal that Enterococcus faecium bacteria have become more tolerant to alcohol over that time.

“We found that the new isolates, post-2010, were 10 times more tolerant to alcohol exposure than the earlier isolates,” said Stinear.

And

Further work by the team involved studying genetic mutations in alcohol tolerant Enterococcus faecium isolates, suggesting that the bacteria are evolving to become more tolerant.

Again, of course this should not be surprising. Any time we try to kill microbes with some method, it is guaranteed that resistance will emerge in some way. But it is still scary …

Tell me what you think ?