By Harsha Doriya This article was originally published on Down To Earth. Antimicrobial Resistance, or AMR, is a pandemic, whose deadly effects are becoming more visible. AMR is described as a natural phenomenon wherein microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses acquire the capacity to proliferate despite exposure to drugs designed to either kill … Continue reading We Need Space, Not Antibiotics: An Animal Farming View of AMR
Tackling Antimicrobial resistance (AMR): from rhetoric to action
By Dr Ranga Reddy Burri This article was originally published in Public Health Trends Newsletter. Background Antimicrobial resistance is a significant threat to public health. Various organizations and individuals have raised the alarm against this threat, which may take us back to the pre-antibiotic era, nullifying modern medical science gains. The silent pandemic AMR, like … Continue reading Tackling Antimicrobial resistance (AMR): from rhetoric to action
Keeping an eye on antibiotic resistance
By Poonam Naik The eye which serves the important function of vision requires to be safeguarded from physical insults and infections. The retina, a layer at the back of the eye, produces visual sensations by transforming light into signals that are sent to the brain. In the light path to the retina, different types of … Continue reading Keeping an eye on antibiotic resistance
Antimicrobial Resistance: We MUST discuss it, we MUST stop it
By Pankaj Dhaka and J.S. Bedi The discovery of the antibiotic Penicillin by Alexander Fleming in the year 1928 spawned the antibiotics era in the infectious disease treatment paradigm, wherein experts rightly described antibiotics as a "miracle drug". The world before the discovery of antibiotics was so vulnerable to infections that even a minor cut … Continue reading Antimicrobial Resistance: We MUST discuss it, we MUST stop it
The YELDANDI Prescription for Combating AMR: In conversation with Vijay V. Yeldandi
Infection Disease (ID) specialists play a critical role in tackling global health problems such as tuberculosis and HIV, emerging infections such as Zika virus, COVID or Ebola and the growing threat posed by antibiotic resistance . Vijay Yeldandi is one such ID specialist with more than 25 years of experience in India and USA, specializing in handling infections in people with impaired immunity such as transplant recipients or patients of HIV. He is the Head of Infectious Diseases and Public Health at the non-profit organisation SHARE INDIA and a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Surgery at University of Illinois. He serves as a Faculty at the Center for Global Health, University of Illinois and the Public Health Foundation of India. Having won many awards both for his leadership and for his work in public health, Vijay provides technical help to many hospitals in India on Infection control and patient safety and serves as a technical advisor to NACO, Government of India on HIV Programs. Here, Vijay shares with us his thoughts on strategies to deal with AMR in India.
ReActing to Superbugs with Philip Mathew
Philip Mathew is a public health researcher and currently AMR advisor at The International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions. Philip also served as a consultant at the ReAct Asia Pacific, a global network dedicated to tackling the problem of antibiotic resistance. ReAct was one of the first international networks to articulate the complex nature of antibiotic resistance and advocates for the need for multidisciplinary and multisectoral collaborations in addressing it. Philip recently spearheaded a consultation meeting with a diverse set of stakeholders including, Superheroes Against Superbugs, on the feasibility of a State Action Plan on AMR in Telangana. In this interview, Philip takes us through various ways in which ReAct is spreading awareness and promoting community and policy action to address the growing problem of AMR in India and globally.
The Superbugs Inspector with Uma Bala Pamidimukkala
The development of new antimicrobials and other biomedical interventions alone will not be enough to fight AMR, controlling Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) will be key. Uma Bala Pamidimukkala plays the role of a Superbugs Inspector in a city hospital. She is an Additional Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad, where her work involves the identification of disease-causing microorganisms and providing information to doctors on whether or not these pathogens are susceptible to antimicrobials. This in turn helps doctors to optimise treatment and in avoiding inappropriate use of antimicrobials. Uma Bala is also a part of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme that organizes different workshops to spread awareness on the different aspects of infection, disease control and its prevention to ensure infections, including AMR infections, do not escape into the environment. In this interview, Uma Bala shares her experience of working in public hospitals that are proven to be hubs for HAIs and AMR infections and talks about the various challenges that one faces stopping the spread of AMR in these settings.
Farming Sustainably to Fight AMR with G.V.Ramanjaneyulu
Agriculture, on which 70% of the rural households are dependent, accounts for around 22% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of our country. Even though agriculture forms the backbone of our economy, Indian farmers are under a lot of distress due to multiple social, economic and environmental factors which are threatening their livelihood. One of the ways in which farmers protect their crops from diseases is by using antibiotics. This rampant and excessive use of antibiotics in agriculture today is a major driver of AMR. But do farmers have a choice? As a veteran agricultural researcher and an experienced executive director of a non-profit organization, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), G.V. Ramanjeneyulu shares his thoughts on controlling the spread of AMR in agriculture.
Finding the Right Antibiotics with Suman Kapur
Suman Kapur and her team based at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, have developed a unique device called RightBiotic that rapidly identifies antibiotic sensitivity of pathogens found in human Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) and helps a medical professional identify the right kind of antibiotics to use to treat the infection. For her efforts, Suman has received the All-India Women Entrepreneur Award 2021 in the category of Super Achiever by the Delhi Management Association. She was also recognized as one of 100 Women Achievers by the President of India in 2015. The RightBiotic team was awarded the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award in 2015. In this interview, Suman takes us through the science behind RightBiotic and why it is an effective biomedical tool to control the rise of superbugs.
Building Evidence to Stop Superbugs with Jyoti Joshi
Jyoti Joshi, Head of South Asia, Center for Disease Dynamics Economics and Policy (CDDEP), is a public health researcher studying drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and has co-authored a critical scoping report on the Antimicrobial Resistance Research Landscape in India. Jyoti has also been closely involved in improving immunization coverage across India including the Mission Indradhanush of the Government of India. In this interview, Jyoti shares important insights on various aspects of AMR to help us understand that solving this crisis would require action at every level of society across the world.
Superheroes Against Superbugs 