British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)’s Post

I came across this very worrying post today about newborn babies in Nigeria being found with colistin-resistant bacteria. As I conclude my final year paediatrics clerkship rotation this week, I have frequently encountered the heartbreaking reality of children born with neonatal sepsis. The thought of children being born with resistant bacteria, barely given a chance to fight, is deeply troubling and unfair. Neonatal sepsis is already a significant challenge, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) exacerbates this issue, making it harder to treat infections effectively. This underscores the urgent need for collective action against AMR. It's crucial for us to address the sources of resistance, such as the use of antibiotics in agriculture, and to strengthen our healthcare systems to prevent the spread of resistant bacteria. We truly need to advocate for stronger policies and better practices to combat AMR and protect the most vulnerable amongst us. Therefore challenging you to take a step and sign this petitions calling our leaders to act at the UN General Assembly Meeting on AMR in September: 1. ReAct - Action on Antibiotic Resistance 's global campaign From people to Leaders: Act on AMR NOW. https://lnkd.in/dudnrXyC 2. African Youth Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance Task Force (AYARA-TF) 's position paper highlighting the importance of youth engagement and other priory areas of action specific to the African context: https://lnkd.in/dgns59Tu Alliance against Antimicrobial Antipathy -AAA #AMR #NeonatalSepsis #Healthcare #PublicHealth #Pediatrics #AntimicrobialResistance #GlobalHealth #UNGAHLM

Title: Urgent Action Needed: Colistin-Resistant Bacteria in Nigerian Newborns A recent study has found colistin-resistant bacteria in Nigerian newborns under one week old, despite neither the babies nor their mothers being treated with colistin. This alarming discovery points to potential environmental exposure, likely due to the widespread use of colistin in agriculture. Why This Matters: • Limited Treatment Options: Colistin is a “last-resort” antibiotic, and resistance to it can lead to severe health outcomes. • Environmental Impact: The use of colistin in livestock farming contributes to the spread of resistance, affecting both humans and animals. What We Can Do: • Research and Monitoring: Increased surveillance and research are crucial to understanding and combating resistance. • Policy Changes: Implementing stricter regulations on antibiotic use in agriculture and healthcare can help prevent further spread. The emergence of colistin-resistant bacteria is a call to action. We must work together to protect our health systems and our most vulnerable populations from this growing threat. #AntibioticResistance #PublicHealth #Nigeria #Healthcare #GlobalHealth #InfectiousDiseases #OneHealth #AntimicrobialResistance #Agriculture #NewbornHealth #EnvironmentalHealth #HealthPolicy #Microbiology #Colistin #SustainableFarming

The simple thought of babies being born with antibiotic resistant bacteria is quite worrisome and scary. The samples from newborn babies and their mothers were collected and studied between 2015 and 2017 from 3 hospitals in Kano and Abuja in Nigeria. This research is the largest ever screening of intestinal microbiota for colistin resistance in Nigeria. Of the 4,907 samples they analyzed in Cardiff and Oxford laboratories, the scientists found that 1% of samples had genes conferring colistin resistance, across 41 mothers and 8 babies. Although this is a low percentage, it is extremely worrying that any babies were carrying colistin-resistant bacteria within their first week of life. This growing resistance is due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in both human medicine and in farming (animal feeds, crops etc). Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions with the highest rates of deaths associated with sepsis and antimicrobial resistance in the world (23.5 deaths/ 100,000). #NewBorn #AntibioticRestantBacteria #Colistin

OHT researcher, Dr. Thomas Van Boeckel co-authored a study that identified China, India, Brazil, Chile, central Asia, and southeastern Africa as hotspots of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in food animals. Tetracycline had the highest average resistance prevalence in Escherichia coli (59 percent) and non-typhoidal Salmonella species (54 percent). Projections suggest that resistance to tetracycline and ampicillin could exceed critical levels in Africa and South America, while resistance to ampicillin and sulphonamides could exceed these levels in Asia. Read our roundup of the latest in One Health research here: https://lnkd.in/dHbWiSG7 Read the Nature Communications article here: : https://lnkd.in/dPSqYwrj #AMR #LMICs

#ToFBV in #Tomato🍅 Mechanical transmission tests on ToFBV in tomatoes have failed to produce infected plants and #no seed transmission could be obtained. Although #no vectors are known, it is suspected that the tomato russet mite (Aculops lycopersici) is involved in the disease transmission, as it has often been observed on ToFBV-infected tomato plants. Over long distances, trade of infected plants seems to be the most likely pathway.

(Journal Review) Bite Or Flight: The Response Of Mosquitoes To Disturbance While Feeding On A Defensive Hos Introduction Anopheles gambiae is vector parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which can cause malaria in humans. Control of this mosquito is key to lowering the prevalence and incidence of malaria, and those regimes aimed at reducing the biting rate of the mosquito are arguably the most important. Most mosquitoes have two diet options: sugar and blood, with the latter being essential to egg production (and hence fitness gain). However, blood feeding is also more risky and energy demanding than nectar feeding because of the possibility of a defensive host, coupled with the decreased flying ability, escape speed, and agility of a mosquito after a meal. Mosquitoes do not grow as adults, so their adult body size is determined by their larval growth and hence larval environment. Being small is disadvantageous for mosquitoes, especially for females, because size constrains the amount of eggs they can carry (and hence their fecundity). Small females also lack the energy reserves needed for gonotropic development, they may need to take multiple blood meals before they can produce eggs. In addition, small-bodied individuals are less efficient at utilizing blood meals, have a lower chance of being inseminated, and have a shorter life span compared to larger individuals. Given these life-history differences, small mosquitoes appear to be in near-critical state, leading us to predict that they will exhibit different blood-feeding (reproductive) strategies compared to their large conspecifics. For more complete journals, please click on ourhttps://lnkd.in/ez9A5UKF Instagram : imlresearch #imlriset #jurnal #reviewjournal #paper #paper #reviewpaper #journalreview #knowledge #edukasi #jurnalilmiah #nyamukanopheles

👨🎓🧬🌾🧩🧑🌾📈💚👍📤🍞 Understanding Yield Loss and Pathogen Biology to Improve Disease Management: Septoria Nodorum Blotch - A Case Study in Wheat DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-09-17-1375-FE #yieldgap #yieldloss #plantpathology #resistance #plantbreeding #foodsecurity #climatechange #biodiversity #germplasm #genebank #biotechnology

It is always good to start the year with good news! Our recent paper looking into child exposure to different #organophosphate and #pyrethroid insecticides in South Africa has just been published.   We investigated #pesticide exposure using different exposure assessment methods (urinary #biomarkers, silicone #wristbands, and household #dust) and determined spatial and short-term variability in exposure levels during one week of spraying season in South Africa.   1 - Weak temporal agreements were observed for the majority of biomarkers measured one week apart, highlighting the need for repeated sampling in epidemiological research. 2 - Weak correlations were observed between exposure matrices, pointing to different environmental and behavioral exposure pathways. 3 - We estimated 21% of our study population to be above the risk threshold of adverse health effects due to cumulative exposure to organophosphates. A big thanks to Samuel Fuhrimann and co-authors for the collaboration and support. Happy 2024!

This interesting article tests the non-target effects of transgenic algae expressing Bti toxins. A novel approach for mosquito larviciding. https://lnkd.in/eadSgNiq

Increased Attraction and Stability of Beauveria bassiana-Formulated Microgranules for Aedes aegypti Biocontrol J. Fungi 2022, 8(8), 828; https://lnkd.in/ggnVUmvx