Antibacterial soap won't create 'super bugs'

Using anti-bacterial soap to clean your home or your skin doesn't increase antibiotic resistance, according to a BYU researcher.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria — so-called "super bugs" — have received a lot of attention, and experts caution they are dangerous. It occurs when bacteria like E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus become acclimated to the antibiotics that have been used as treatment against them.

In a study published today in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, a Brigham Young University researcher says that while antibiotic resistance poses a real threat, he found no link to anti-bacterial cleaning products used in the home.

The real, proven causes of resistance are well known, said Eugene C. Cole, professor of health science at BYU and the lead author of the study, which was conducted just before he came to BYU.

Those causes include physicians who overprescribe antibiotics, giving them out as treatment for things they can't possibly impact, such as viruses; overuse of antibiotics to encourage livestock growth; and misuses by the general public, such as taking antibiotics "left over" from earlier illnesses or not taking the entire course of an antibiotic.

When that happens, the weakest of the bacteria are killed while the stronger, resistant bacteria survive and thrive. The result could be no less than catastrophic, and antibiotic resistance is becoming a worldwide problem.

The concern has become so great, speculation began that even antibacterial soaps and cleansers would contribute to the problem.

Cole and his team of researchers took samples from kitchen and bathroom surfaces in homes of those who use anti-bacterial cleansers and those who don't — some in the United States and others in the United Kingdom. Certain would-be participants were excluded, including those who work in a hospital, other health-care facility or veterinary clinic where they could bring resistant bacteria home; those with young children in day care more than 20 hours a week; homes in which someone was recently on antibiotic therapy; and others. Samples also were taken from the hands and mouths of the study subjects.

More than 1,230 bacteria were tested for resistance to common antibiotics. Then they were tested against common anti-bacterial ingredients used in personal hygiene and cleaning products to see if use of the products might contribute to resistance.