A bacterial strain preserved for 5,000 years, resistant to 10 modern antibiotics, has been discovered in an ice cave in Romania, Euro News reported on Tuesday, citing a recent study.
The newly identified species, called Psychrobacter SC65A.3, was found in the ancient ice of the Scărișoara Ice Cave, one of the largest ice caves in Romania, located in the Apuseni Mountains. This bacterium, adapted to low temperatures, is able to resist many modern drugs.
Bacteria are known to survive for millennia in extreme environments, including deep ice sheets, permafrost, oceans, and glacial lakes. Over time, they adapt to withstand harsh living conditions.
Researchers found that this cold-adapted strain resists 10 antibiotics belonging to eight different classes.
"The bacterial strain Psychrobacter SC65A.3, isolated from the Scărișoara Ice Cave, despite its ancient origin, shows resistance to many modern antibiotics and carries over 100 genes associated with resistance," said Cristina Purcarea, author of the study and scientist at the Institute of Biology in Bucharest, part of the Romanian Academy.
The cave contains a block of underground ice about 13,000 years old, with a volume of about 100,000 cubic meters, considered among the largest and oldest in the world.
According to Purcarea, studying such microbes from ancient ice helps scientists understand how antibiotic resistance evolved naturally long before the existence of modern drugs.
Published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Microbiology, the study highlights the importance of researching cold-adapted microbes, especially given that frozen habitats cover about 20% of the Earth's surface and climate change is accelerating.
Antimicrobial resistance already causes millions of deaths globally each year, including over 35,000 in Europe, a figure that is expected to rise.
