The World Antimicrobial Week
What are Antimicrobials?
Antimicrobials are a group of drugs used to treat microbial infections and save the lives of people and animals. AMR - Antimicrobial resistance
AMR is considered one of the most difficult public health issues. It occurs when bacterias, viruses, fungi, and parasites stop responding to antimicrobials. This in turn results in infections making them harder to treat, thus resulting in severe illness and death.How does antimicrobial resistance spread?
It occurs naturally over time and it is usually through genetic changes. These organisms are usually found in animals, plants and in people and can easily spread. Misuse or overuse of antimicrobials, filthy water, lack of hygiene, lack of health care control in farms, poor access to quality medicines and vaccines are all reasons for the spread of AMR.
Drug Resistance in Animal Healthcare
Dairy production is threatened by antibiotic resistant pathogens worldwide. The prevalence of antibiotic resistant strains is not well known in less developed countries. Mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus are showing highest resistance to amoxicillin (93.1%) followed by gentamicin (41.37%), tetracycline (34.48%) erythromycin, vancomycin and gatifloxacin (31.03%) each. Likewise Streptococcus agalactiae are showing highest resistance to amoxicillin (93.03%) followed by doxycycline (90.69%), tetracycline (67.33%), erythromycin (41.86%) and vancomycin (34.88%). It was found that amoxicillin, erythromycin, tetracycline and vancomycin are shown to be the most resistant antibiotics .
Need for action
As AMR is a complex problem to solve it requires a united multisectoral approach which must include stakeholders from various sectors such as human, terrestrial, feed production, etc to communicate and work together in designing and implementing the policies in order to attain better outcomes.
The multiple resistance phenomena observed in a high number of mastitis-causing organisms require discernment in the choice of mastitis treatment, considering both the health of the animal, the increase of productivity, but also the ease of transmitting bacteria from milk to humans. For this reason, the testing of antimicrobial sensitivities are strongly recommended.
For this a greater investment is required and hence, Antimicrobial Resistance Multi Partner Trust Fund (AMR MPTF), the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP), AMR Action Fund and other funds and initiatives help in filling the funding gap. However, a lot more initiatives have to be taken in order to find a solution that lasts for long.
The Global Action Plan
AMR is a global public health issue that not only affects the longevity of people but also increases the health expenditure for various countries. The misuse of antibiotics is the major reason for AMR and there is a major need to create awareness among the public, for this communication is the major key. Behavioural change is the only option, and for that adequate awareness, a robust regulatory environment, emotional or material incentives, and an enabling social structure should be addressed. Healthcare planners and policymakers believe that increasing awareness will bring in behaviour change.
To tackle the problem of resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines a global action plan was endorsed in May 2015, at the 68th World Health Assembly. The key objective of this plan is to spread awareness and help people understand about AMR by providing education and training. Hence, November 18th to 24th is considered as the World Antimicrobial Awareness week. It is celebrated every year to create awareness, understand antimicrobial resistance better, and encourage the best practices that have to be followed by the public.
The importance of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week
Ever since 2015, the WAAW has been held annually. It is a global campaign run across the world in order to encourage the best practices among the public and healthcare workers with the aim to slow down the spread of the infection. The slogan for the week is defined as "Antimicrobials: Handle with Care''.
For the research and development of new antimicrobials and vaccines WHO has updated the pathogens list in 2022. The organisation annually reviews both the clinical and preclinical pipelines to keep a check on the progress. However, there remains a gap between the research and development, especially with regards to antibacterial targeting of the gram-negative carbapenem resistant bacteria. The GARDP - Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership works across different sectors to develop treatments for infections that pose to be the greatest threat to health.
Final Thoughts
AMR in the environment has been a neglected topic in India so far. With environment in India posing a continuously increasing threat of AMR, urgent steps are necessary to halt its progress and spread. A multisectoral and multidisciplinary approach with combined efforts and supervision is required to tackle this problem.
Animeta feels proud to be a small part in creating awareness about AMR.
Ref:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6618197/
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-antimicrobial-awareness-week
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=84233
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