Professor Ndubueze Amaechi of Veterinary Microbiology at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State has urged the Federal Government to give more support to researchers to develop more alternative drugs from natural medicinal plants to treat infections in both human and animals.
Amaechi expressed this while delivering the 59th Inaugural Lecture of the university titled “The unending war between microbes and antimicrobials: perspectives of a veterinary microbiologist”
He said the alternative drugs have become necessary due to the increasing rate of antibiotics resistance in humans and animals in Nigeria.
While noting that diseases are developing more complex mechanisms against drugs, the professor warned against unwholesome administering of feeds and drugs on chicken, swine in poultries, farms and homes.
The inaugural lecturer hinted that microbial communities have become hard to eradicate from their hosts in bodies of humans and animals because of the complex mechanisms developed by the microbes.
He said, “Anti-Microbial Resistance, has become a well-recognized threat to global public health in recent years, interventions to reduce the threat have been launched to tackle the problem with the introduction of drugs with complete novel mechanism into the market.
‘Antibiotics usage must be regulated both on local and global scale through the use of bio security in poultry farms.
“A patient who is taking or repeating some drugs may not get the desired results, obviously that the microbial have developed serious resistance”.
Prof. Amaechi expressed worry that antibiotics are indiscriminately being administered on animals by farmers, abattoir operators and owners of pets in Nigeria without the the supervision of certified Veterinarians, pointing out that such acts also pose threat to the health of the humans.
Source: Ogbonnaya Ikokwu