Lagos: Dr Emelda Chukwu, a Senior Researcher at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), on Monday raised concerns over the growing high-level resistance to third-generation antibiotics known as cephalosporins.
Chukwu said this during a NIMR media chat highlighting the institute’s research in Nigeria.
According to her, the drugs are broad-spectrum beta-lactam antibiotics used to treat severe infections that cannot be treated with first- and second-generation antibiotics.
She explained that antimicrobial resistance occurs when microorganisms evolve or mutate, rendering the drugs originally designed to kill them ineffective.
The researcher said her team aims to slow the rise and spread of resistance, especially by using the One Health approach, which views the health of people, animals, and the environment as interconnected.
She added that the team surveyed four healthcare facilities as sentinel sites to examine AMR clinical patterns, particularly in patients with diverse infections.
The survey confirmed significant resistance to third-generation cephalosporins among patients.
AMR is one of the major pressing global health threats, and it is even threatening to overturn the gains that have been made over the years with the use of antibiotics for the treatment of numerous infectious diseases.
Currently, we are seeing high levels of resistance, so these organisms are no longer responding to the medicines intended to kill them.
“We are now seeing that even the third-generation antibiotics that are our reserve antibiotics are now developing resistance, and this is alarming,” she said.
Chukwu blamed misuse and abuse of antibiotics as major behaviours fueling AMR’s rise. The researcher also highlighted environmental and wastewater surveillance as an early warning system for detecting pandemic- and epidemic-prone pathogens.
She said her team developed a structured wastewater surveillance system to signal potential outbreaks early.
