Antimicrobial Resistance: a Global Health Threat to Man .

Antibiotics. Ever heard of them?

Of course.

An introduction.

Antibiotics are chemical substances that can kill microorganisms and cure bacterial infections. When they were first discovered, they were called "wonder drugs" but now, maybe they are mere substances that are taken for the sake of it.

Since 1984, no registered class of antibiotics has been produced. An antibiotic class is a group of antibiotics that share a basic chemical structure and mechanism of action. Yet, bacterial species continue to evolve and change genomically, helping them to evade most antibiotics. This is a threat to global human health. 

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) has become an issue of global concern. Microorganisms are changing so that medications used to treat them are becoming ineffective. If this is not curtailed, somehow, all antibiotic drugs - including drugs of last resort (DoLRs) - may eventually become exhausted and tiny inconspicuous entities may soon start ruling the world. 

News Flash: Superbug resistant to two last line antibiotics found in US for first time.

This prompts you to ask:

"What could possibly have gone wrong?"

It is quite simple :

Antibiotics have been abused.

"But how?"

You remember when you had sore throat last month, and you dashed to the chemist's shop beside your office to get Amoxil? On Christmas Eve after eating Semo & vegetable at Nuffy's Kitchen and you started purging incessantly, you asked Bimpe to get Septrin from Alihu, Mai Magani to salvage the situation before the bowel infection kills you. Just last week, Baba Bimple had a bout of boils under his armpits that confined him to lifting up holy hands, you quickly remembered Hassanah's testimony of how she combatted her butt-boil with Ampiclox 500mg and it disappeared. In no time, Bimpe had rushed down the street with a piece of paper in hand bearing the name of the drug. You remember also... Okay let me stop there.

I understand those situations were pain-inducing and something had to be done, real quick, to alleviate the pain. Well, what has been done - drug abuse - cannot now be undone. Simply taking those drugs without proper diagnoses that prompted the dosage has enabled those enteric bacteria to acquire resistance to the drug. It's that simple: underdose, overdose, and incomplete dose of a particular antibiotic are enough to trigger resistance in bacteria. 

"The emergence of resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is a common phenomenon. Emergence of resistance often reflects evolutionary processes that take place during antibiotic therapy. The antibiotic treatment may select for bacterial strains with physiologically or genetically enhanced capacity to survive high doses of antibiotics. Under certain conditions, it may result in preferential growth of resistant bacteria, while growth of susceptible bacteria is inhibited by the drug. Antibiotics such as penicillin and erythromycin, which used to have a high efficacy against many bacterial species and strains, have become less effective, due to the increased resistance of many bacterial strains."

Remember, each time you take an antibiotic when it is not necessary, the effectiveness of the antibiotic decreases and it might not work the next time you really need it.

"So what now?"

I'll tell you:

« Do not use antibiotics to treat viral infections, such as influenza or common cold. Ask your doctor for other ways to feel better.

« Use antibiotics only when a doctor prescribes them.

« When you are prescribed antibiotics, take the full prescription even if you are feeling better. Ensure that members of your family do the same.

« Never share antibiotics with others or use leftover prescriptions.

Commit to doing the aforementioned consistently, and you would be helping us reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance. 

IT BEGINS WITH YOU.