Don raises alarm over increasing rate of antibiotics resistance

A Professor of Veterinary Microbiology, Professor Ndubueze Amaechi, has raised the alarm over the increasing rate of antibiotics resistance in humans and animals in Nigeria, saying that diseases are developing more complex mechanisms against drugs.

Amaechi, who said this at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State while delivering the school’s 59th Inaugural Lecture, also warned against unwholesome administering of feeds and drugs in poultries, and farms.

The lecturer disclosed that microbial communities have become hard to eradicate from their hosts in the bodies of humans and animals because of the complex mechanisms developed by the microbes.

He said Anti Microbial Resistance, AMR, has become a well recognized threat to global public health in recent years, saying that interventions to reduce the threat have been launched to tackle the problem with the introduction of drugs with complete novel mechanism into the market.
He said that antibiotics usage must be regulated both on a local and global scale, even as he advocated the use of bio security in poultry farms.

He observed that somebody who is taking or repeating some drugs may not get the desired results, oblivious that the microbial had developed serious resistance.

Amaechi expressed worry that antibiotics are indiscriminately being administered on animals by farmers, abattoir operators and owners of pets in Nigeria without the supervision of certified Veterinarians, pointing out that such acts posed threat to the health of humans.

He urged the Federal government to give more support to researchers for the development of more alternative drugs from natural medicinal plants.

Don raises alarm over increasing rate of antibiotics resistance