Health experts sound warning over drug resistance
Nearly half of patients being treated for bacterial infections experience drug resistance, experts now warn.
It has also emerged that most doctors are reluctant to treat patients suspected to have used multiple antibiotics to treat bacterial infections that have reached a point of resistance.
Dr Lilian Musila (pictured), a principal Research Scientist with Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) said studies have shown that 45 per cent of the bacteria in the patients being treated for bacterial infection are from Multi Drug Resistance (MDR).
“So antibiotics are going to fail us soon,” she stated.
She was speaking during a symposium co-hosted by Kemri and Institute for Primate Research (IPR) recently.
The symposium bought together international and local researchers from companies and universities respectively. Multi-drug resistance, according to IPR Chief of Research, Dr Atunga Nyachieo, has created a new need for alternative or complementary treatments, and as a way to deal with the problem, bacteriophages will offer an encouraging prospect, as they can infect and kill specific bacteria without harming the host.
