• A new study suggests that the world-famous Roman Baths harbour a diverse range of microorganisms that could play a crucial role in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance.

• The research, published in the journal The Microbe, is the first to provide a detailed examination of the bacterial and archaeal communities found within the waters of the popular tourist attraction in the city of Bath.

Roman Baths

• The city of Bath in South West England was founded in the first century AD by the Romans who used the natural hot springs as a thermal spa. Here, the Romans built a magnificent temple and bathing complex on the site of Britain’s only hot spring, which still flows with naturally hot water.

• It became an important centre for the wool industry in the Middle Ages but in the 18th century under the reigns of George l, ll and III it developed into an elegant spa city, famed in literature and art.

• The Roman Baths Museum was originally developed around the discoveries made from the site of the Roman Baths and Temple complex and the city of Bath.

• In 1987, the city was listed by UNESCO as a cultural site with outstanding universal value and cultural significance, due to its Roman remains, hot springs, 18th-century architecture, eighteenth-century town planning, social setting and landscape setting.

• In 2021 Bath received a second UNESCO inscription as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe.

• The Roman Baths is one of the best-preserved Roman remains in the world, where 1,170,000 litres of steaming spring water, reaching 46°C, still fills the bathing site every single day. 

• More than one million people visited the Roman Baths & Pump Room in 2023.

300 distinct types of bacteria isolated across the Roman Baths site

• Scientists collected samples of water, sediment and biofilm from locations within the Roman Baths complex, including the King’s Spring (where the waters reach around 45°C) and the Great Bath, where the temperatures are closer to 30°C.

• The samples were then analysed using cutting edge sequencing technology, and traditional culturing techniques were employed to isolate bacteria with antibiotic activity.

• Around 300 distinct types of bacteria were isolated across the Roman Baths site — among them the key candidate groups, Actinobacteria and Myxococcota, known for antibiotic production — with different examples being more prominent within the varying water temperatures.

• Further tests revealed that 15 of these isolates — including examples of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes — showed varying levels of inhibition against human pathogens, including E.coli, Staphylococcus Aureus and Shigella flexneri.

• The research comes at a time when the need for new sources of antibiotics is at unprecedented levels, with the resistance of bacteria to currently used medication estimated to be responsible for the deaths of more than 1.25 million people globally each year.

Additional read:

What is antimicrobial resistance?

Antimicrobials — including antibiotics, anti-virals, antifungals, and antiparasitics – are medicines used to prevent and treat infectious diseases in humans, animals and plants. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines.

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