Why Nigeria must monitor antibiotics for sale in markets —Expert

Given the threat antibiotic resistance germs pose to health, an expert in pharmaceutical microbiology, Professor Olufemi Adeleke has stressed the need for Nigeria to properly evaluate the potency of brands of antibiotics that are allowed for sale in the market.

Professor Adeleke spoke in his inaugural lecture entitled “Combatting the Resisting Invisibles and Invincibles- A running battle” at the University of Ibadan.

He stated that this is imperative to detect and combat antibiotic resistance in disease-causing germs as they remain a serious challenge to medicine and health care systems.

According to him, “there has been a phenomenal increase in the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics in terms of bacterial spectrum, antibiotic coverage and specific mechanisms of resistance. The rapid bacterial antibiotic resistance has been recognised as being among the greatest hazards in human and veterinary medicine.”

Professor Adeleke added that “loss of antibiotic efficacy, therefore, threatens to return the society to a time when one in 10 patients with skin infection died and one in three patients with pneumonia died.”

He said the increasing antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics was predicated on high infectious disease burden and the cost constraints against the widespread application of newer, more expensive antimicrobial agents.

Aside from the issues of overuse, misuse and abuse of antibiotics and varying prescribing practices among countries in developing countries, he stated  that large quantities of counterfeit and substandard antimicrobials that unabatedly occur in pharmaceutical markets in this region had contributed to the problem.

• Why antibiotics abuse is dangerous

Professor Adeleke, therefore, said it was of no use to prescribe an antibiotic against any disease without a susceptibility testing to ensure the likelihood of using the drug to successfully treat that infection.

The expert, however, assured that through research many things in nature like honey, bitter kola and kolanut have been found effective in treating conditions that many antibiotics are becoming less effective in their treatment.

The expert also cautioned Nigerians on the patronage of sachet water, otherwise known as “pure water” and street-hawked non-alcoholic food drinks like kunnu-zaki, soya milk and zobo because of their high content of disease-causing contaminants and posing a risk to public health.

According to him, “the health risk associated with the microbial contaminants could be due to uncontrolled preparation of the soya milk sample.”

Professor Adeleke, however, advised moderation in their consumption, adding, “bear in mind that the microbial inoculum size is one of the factors that influence the development of infections.”

The expert advocated a multi-faceted approach at controlling antibiotic resistance at both the academic and conventional levels.

According to him, “there should be a continued exploration of nature in search of antimicrobial compounds endowed with multiple actions that could offer a synergistic antimicrobial action. Such a synergy in addition to its effectiveness could reduce the need for high dosage levels and also minimise side effects.

“The antibiotic consumption habit of individuals call for moderation, with a view to curtailing abuse/misuse of antibiotics, indiscriminate use of antibiotics and ill-advised combination chemotherapy.

“Coping with the running battle posed by microbial antibiotic resistance, particularly at the academic level requires adequate and sustained funding by the different levels of government because of the high cost of the equipment and materials involved.”