Farmers and gardeners use vermicomposting to create a nutrient-rich soil enhancer with a little help from earthworms, but new research indicates the practice could also help tackle a growing global health crisis: antimicrobial resistance.

What Is Antimicrobial Resistance, Why Is It a Threat to Human Health, and How Can Vermicomposting Help?

Doctors have used antibiotic and antifungal medications to treat infection for a century. But like all living things, microbes — or microorganisms — such as bacteria and fungi are wired for survival. The more they’re exposed to antibiotics and antifungals, the more they develop genes that are resistant to these medications.

The World Health Organization has raised the alarm about the rise of antimicrobial resistance as a leading threat to public health. “Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is widespread and increasing, threatening decades of medical progress and putting the health of people, animals, plants, and ecosystems at risk. Antibiotics that once reliably cured common infections are rapidly losing effectiveness,” the agency warned in November. “AMR is already responsible for more than a million deaths each year, with the toll expected to climb in the coming decades.”

The use of antibiotics and antifungals in the livestock industry is a leading source of antimicrobial resistance, as bacteria and fungi carrying resistant genes pass from the stomachs of treated animals into the environment and food systems.

National health agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outline procedures for farmers to reduce or eliminate opportunities for resistant genes to escape. New research adds vermicomposting to the prevention toolkit.

In vermicomposting, earthworms eat through manure and other organic waste to produce a natural, nutrient-rich soil enhancer called worm casts. Similarly, “earthworms could become unexpected allies in the global fight against antibiotic resistance by helping farmers turn manure into safer, high-value organic fertilizer,” researchers at Shenyang Agricultural University in China reported in December.

Read the full article about worms preventing antimicrobial resistance by Tina Casey at TriplePundit.