Wellness & Fitness

Sewage offers solution in fight against superbugs

sewage

A child struggles to walk on a footbridge placed over open sewage in Migosi Estate, Kisumu County. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NMG

Wastewater from homes and industrial activity could hold the key to fighting the emergence of disease causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.

A new study conducted at Stellenbosch University in South Africa has found that certain bacteria in sewage water produce compounds, known scientifically as biosurfactants, that prevent the growth of antibiotic-resistant bugs.

These bacteria thrive in polluted environments such as contaminated soil or water.

Dr Thando Ndlovu, a researcher at the university who initiated the study, says the global surge in drug-resistant bacteria was the main reason behind his search for new compounds that can be used to tackle the problem.

His study has identified two types of organisms in sewage water that produce chemical compounds capable of stopping growth of drug-resistant bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus - which causes staph infection - and certain strains of E. coli that can cause life-threatening infections in humans.

"These bacteria also have the ability to outcompete other bacteria in the same environment because the biosurfactant compounds help them to absorb nutrients and to protect them from toxic materials," Dr Ndlovu said in an article published on a scientific news portal.

Harder to treat

The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised alarm over the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria that are threatening the world’s ability to treat common infectious diseases.

READ: Resistant bacteria scare

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Due to resistance, an increasing number of infections in Kenya such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, cholera, gonorrhoea and blood poisoning are now becoming harder and sometimes impossible to treat as antibiotics become less effective.

Dr Samuel Kariuki, Director of the Centre for Microbiology Research at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), said the misuse of antibiotics in humans and animals is mostly to blame.

This happens when people take antibiotics, intended solely for bacterial infections, to treat diseases - such as colds and flu - caused by other organisms like viruses.

“When people fail to complete their drug doses, they also promote the emergence of drug resistance bacteria,” he said.

In the livestock farming sector, Dr Kariuki noted that misuse of antibiotics to accelerate growth and prevent disease is driving resistance.

“But good management practices such as vaccinating animals can address the problem,” Dr Kariuki adds.

READ: Antibiotics resistance adds to Kenya’s infectious disease burden