The Truth About Antibiotics Resistance & Its Origins

KYW's Medical Reports Sponsored By Independence Blue Cross

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- We talk a great deal about antibiotic overuse and the resulting antibiotic resistance that can occur.

In fact, just a few weeks ago there was news of a super bacteria that is resistant to the most effective antibiotics we have. But you might be surprised that antibiotic resistance was present even before antibiotics were developed.

It goes back to pre-Columbian Incas and even renaissance-era Italian nobility. Mummified Incan remains show the most resistant strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, that weren't discovered for more than 500 years after the people died.

The Incan mummies from the 10th to 14th centuries exhibited the highest overall number of antibiotic-resistance genes, suggesting that ancient vegetarian diets may be associated with the consumption of food contaminated with soil microbes harboring antibiotic-resistant genes.