Research finds high antibiotic resistance in western Kenya

Researchers have discovered a high prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in parts of western pockets Kenya due to overuse of antimicrobial agents.

American and Kenya research bodies, using a US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) -developed microarray technology, detected more than 200 different antibiotic resistance genes from bacteria sampled from intestinal tract of healthy individuals and patients in western Kenya. The samples were collected from eight hospitals in Kisumu, Kisii, Migori and Homa Bay.

Policies

“We discovered a high prevalence of bacteria strains resistant to commonly used antibiotics,” said Dr Chris Taitt, a research biologist at NRL Centre for Biomolecular Science and Engineering.

“These results suggest that there is selective pressure for the establishment and maintenance of resistant strains. This is potentially due to agriculture and prophylactic use of antibiotics and further suggests the need for more effective public health policies and infection control measures than those currently implemented.”

Researchers from NRL worked on the joint research with the US Army Medical Research Directorate-Kenya, Kenya Medical Research Institute and University of Washington.

They published their findings titled ‘High prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Kenya’ on July 11, in the US NRL journal.

Threats

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global public and can affect anyone of any age, in any country. The resistance is rising from not only over-use of antimicrobial agents but also the widespread availability of counterfeit or substandard medicines and poor infection control measures in Kenya and across the world.