C7: BRIEF AWARENESS OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE: STRATEGIES FOR INDIVIDUALS AND AGRICULTURE SECTOR PRACTICES (IN CONTEXT TO TANZANIA) TO CONTROL ITS PREVALENCE

  

Hello class without walls,

It is another step in getting knowledge and getting better. I have been a great proponent of the idea that the ultimate measure of human intelligence is how we gain control and shape our surroundings in favor of human thriving. We freak out when things run out of our control like in pandemics COVID-19, we run bankrupt, businesses do not go as planned and many things that develop terror. Indeed, one of the tools to control the fate of things is knowledge. We gain knowledge and we use that knowledge to shape and control the fate of things surrounding us.

Simply put, November 18-24, 2021 was a special week in the health sector particularly on the use of antibiotics. promulgated World Health Organization (WHO), it was a week of world antibiotic resistance awareness with the slogan “antimicrobials: handle with care”, aimed to educate the general public across the world on the proper use of antibiotics and risks that accelerate antibiotic resistance.  It signifies the extent and prevalence of antibiotic resistance in our society. After that week, the question remains is what next should the public and individuals do to overcome antibiotic resistance?

What is antibiotic resistance?

In case one did not catch up with what was going on in that week then one might be interested in the question of why does antibiotic resistance matters? in short antibiotic resistance is the problem whereby the disease-causing agents no longer get killed by antibiotics. Simply put, powerful medicine for treating disease becomes weak and ineffective in treating a particular bacteria-related disease, meaning diseases become hard to be treated and prevalent. The disease-causing agents are often bacteria although other pathogens like fungi exhibit drug resistance. Common examples of antibiotics are Penicillin, cefaclor, tetracycline, and amoxicillin. Diseases gonorrhea, and syphilis. Pneumonia, Cholera, Tuberculosis, Anthrax, and tetanus. Read more about the effective use of medicines here

Image: Depiction of pathogens getting stronger than medicine, "antibiotic resistance"



Antibiotics matter to all of us in many ways in our daily life, either directly or indirectly. For example, in hospitals, to have successful and safe surgery antibiotics are important particularly to prevent infections between physicians and patients, even patients to patients. Just imagine life without antibiotics in the hospitals where there would be the easy transmission of infections interpatient. The application of antibiotics is not only limited to hospitals but also in veterinary in controlling animals’ diseases, in agriculture, and storage of crops against spoiling agents. thus, it is worth taking into consideration of effective use of antibiotics matter in our daily life.

Negative effects of antibiotic resistance?

Since we depend on antibiotics in many ways, antibiotic resistance affects our daily life in many ways too from personal health, public health, and national economies at large. It is important to highlight that antibiotic resistance does not segregate color, religion, or nationality. In fact, WHO has pointed out that Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health and food security. Antibiotic resistance presents a growing number of infections – such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and salmonellosis which are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used to treat them become less effective.

Other effects include longer hospital stays since diseases take a longer time to be treated, increased medical cost due to taking larger doses and trial and error on different antibiotics, and increased mortality rate since some patients do not have easy access to powerful antibiotics.

How have got we to this point? our involvement?

Despite the natural evolution of microorganisms that bacteria tend to undergo genetic changes to favor their survival, there are some human practices that also have accelerated antibiotic resistance. 

Inappropriate use of antibiotics, currently in the market there are different antibiotics of which not any antibiotic can be effective to every bacterial disease, thus it is important to use prescribed antibiotics by physician since experts have enough knowledge of both diseases and their corresponding effective medicine. Layman’s self-prescription may not be accurate leading to the ineffective choice of antibiotics which ultimately induces resistance to antibiotics.

Incomplete use of prescribed dosage of antibiotics, for every dose there is its effective time thus unfinished prescribed dose leads to remain of bacteria which were supposed to be fully be treated by full dose. Incomplete use of antibiotic doses is a tempting and common practice especially after relief obtained by disease.

How do we get a hold on the antibiotic resistance problem?

Individuals

To prevent and control the spread of antibiotic resistance, individuals can:

  • Only use antibiotics when prescribed by a certified health professional.
  • Never demand antibiotics if your health worker says you don’t need them.
  • Always follow your health worker’s advice when using antibiotics.
  • Never share or use leftover antibiotics.
  • Prevent infections by regularly washing hands, preparing food hygienically, avoiding close contact with sick people, practicing safer sex, and keeping vaccinations up to date.
  • Prepare food hygienically, following the WHO Five Keys to Safer Food (keep clean, separate raw and cooked, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures, use safe water and raw materials) and choose foods that have been produced without the use of antibiotics for growth promotion or disease prevention in healthy animals.

 

 

Agriculture sector

In the context of Tanzania (my country that I am quite familiar with), recently there has been impeccable public awareness on the effective use of antibiotics in humans. the subtle yet troublesome challenge has been controlling antibiotics in agriculture. Since the major part of the Tanzania economy is controlled by agriculture this area has been deeply considered. The challenge has been exacerbated by having few veterinaries, rendering many farmers to handle even large-scale antibiotics without sufficient knowledge on the proper use of antibiotics.

 Recent studies have shown that in the northern part of Tanzania there is extensive cross-transmission of resistant bacteria between domestic animals and humans with over 50% of resistant bacteria found in animals also existing in human samples. This should be a good sign to take a closer look at the use of antibiotics in veterinary as I think this area has not given enough emphasis and public awareness compared to the use of antibiotics as medicine in humans.

To prevent and control the spread of antibiotic resistance, the agriculture sector can:

  • Only give antibiotics to animals under veterinary supervision.
  • Not use antibiotics for growth promotion or to prevent diseases in healthy animals.
  • Vaccinate animals to reduce the need for antibiotics and use alternatives to antibiotics when available.
  • Promote and apply good practices at all steps of production and processing of foods from animal and plant sources.
  • Improve biosecurity on farms and prevent infections through improved hygiene and animal welfare.

References:

1.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-020-00862-y

2.Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-13995-5

3. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antibiotic-resistance

 

I hope I have briefly explained antibiotic resistance, its effect, and what we can do at the individual level to get a hold of it. For further questions, discussions and opinions are welcome over the chatbox.

Get better, get stronger, live safely!

Masota.

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