Need to develop new methods to tackle bacterial-drug resistance

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 18

A day-long symposium on the pressing issue of the increasing presence of drug-resistant bacteria or “superbugs” in hospitals was organised at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) here on Monday to develop new collaborative research networks for building multi-institutional projects focused on discovering novel anti-bacterials, exploring policy measures and developing tools to tackle anti-microbial resistance.

The symposium assumes significance as globally bacteria are developing new resistance mechanisms and these antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major problem in the hospital ICUs and patients are dying due to large number of secondary infections rather than main reason of hospitalisation.

During the symposium, it was brought out that antibiotics losing effectiveness against bacterial infections is threatening our ability to treat even common infectious diseases and without effective antibiotics or antimicrobials for prevention and treatment of these infections, medical procedures such as organ transplantation, cancer chemotherapy, diabetes management or major surgery become high risk as most of the hospitals are becoming breeding ground for these drug-resistant “superbugs”. Another issue with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is that it increases the cost of health care services with longer stays in the hospitals and more intensive care required due to these secondary microbial infections.

Inaugurating the event titled “Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): Need for a United Front”, VP Singh Badnore, UT Administrator and Punjab Governor, said it was crucial for the scientific community and other public health stakeholders to work towards delivery of new solutions for bacterial-drug resistance.

Appreciating IMTECH’s role in developing new drugs that can counter drug-resistance bacteria and help hospitals to save millions of lives as key antibiotics are becoming ineffective, he stressed on the urgent need of Indian research and development institutions to deliver new solutions in this sector.

IMTECH director Dr Anil Koul said, “We are witnessing an alarming rise in the levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked to misuse of antibiotics.”

Representatives from National Centre for Disease Control, WHO, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, PGI, Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Council of Medical Research shared their views. Leaders from the pharma sector and associated industries stressed the role of innovation in discovering new drugs.