Antibiotic resistance risk skyrockets in urban settlements due to sanitation practices.
The study looked at how toilets in poor neighborhoods affect antibiotics in groundwater in Kampala, Uganda. They found seven types of antibiotics in the water, with the highest levels during the dry season. One antibiotic, sulfathiazole, was linked to E. coli bacteria. The water quality was also connected to the antibiotics found. Most of the areas tested had a high risk of antibiotic resistance during the dry season. This means people in these neighborhoods are more likely to have infections that are hard to treat with antibiotics.