Down To Earth– November 14, 2019. Bacteria can be found everywhere — in air, water, soil and even food. As part of the natural process, a continuous transfer of chemical nutrients with the ecosystems, “bacteria are pushed to grow, encouraged to mutate and often undergo genetic changes that help them escape the very antibiotics that would have otherwise killed them,” said Jyothi Joshi, Head-South Asia for Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy.