Tag: antimicrobial resistance

South Africa, Malawi Among African Countries Recording High drug-resistant gonorrhoea cases

Healthtimes

By Staff Reporter The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a renewed warning about the rapid rise of drug-resistant gonorrhoea, calling it a growing global threat that demands urgent action. The alert follows the release of new findings from the Enhanced Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (EGASP), which has tracked resistance patterns since 2015 and now reports sharp increases in resistance to key antibiotics. The data release coincides with World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week 2025, underscoring the global significance of the threat. According to the latest EGASP report, resistance to the…

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Study Uncovers Reservoirs of Antimicrobial Resistance in Food Processing Environments

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa A new study has identified food processing environments, particularly wastewater and sludge, as significant reservoirs for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes, including several high-risk variants that pose a threat to human health. The research, led by Thorben Reiche from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), highlights the potential for these facilities to contribute to the environmental spread of AMR. The study, conducted by a team of researchers from NTNU and SINTEF Industry in Norway, alongside the University of Life Sciences in Iași, Romania, investigated the prevalence…

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Zimbabwe Among 14 African Nations Facing Alarming Rise in Drug-Resistant Infections

Michael Gwarisa

By Staff Reporter  Results from a newly published study highlight the growing spread of drug resistance across 14 African countries, underscoring the urgent need to strengthen laboratory testing, data systems, and health planning to tackle hard-to-treat infections. The study, known as the Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP), is the largest of its kind ever conducted in Africa. It was led by a coalition including the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), One Health Trust, and other regional partners.…

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Zimbabwe evaluates progress of its AMR National Action Plan

Healthtimes

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), is a growing threat where the substances (“antimicrobials”) used to kill or neutralize pathogens lose their effectiveness. FAO Communication Department Every year, on average, 700,000 people die because of AMR, this number without global action, will continue to rise in tandem with food production losses leading to food insecurity. More recently, a research has shown that around five million human deaths were associated with AMR in 2019. To combat such a crisis, in 2015 and using a One-Health (OH) approach, three leading Tripartite organizations (the Food and Agriculture…

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Time For Zimbabwe To Rope In Community Civil Society Organisations In AMR Fight

Michael Gwarisa
AMR

THE world is fast sleep walking towards another deadly pandemic that could wipe out an entire civilisation if something is not done urgently. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) or the silent pandemic as many epidemiologist have dubbed it, is one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity, exposing both humans and animals to catastrophic consequences. By Michael Gwarisa Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microorganisms evolve mechanisms that protect them from the effects of antimicrobials or agents that kill microorganisms or stops their growth. Antibiotic resistance is a subset of AMR…

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Antimicrobial Resistance Greatest Threat To Modern Medicines- Dr Midzi

Michael Gwarisa

ANTIMICROBIAL Resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to human and animal health in the African region, Zimbabwe included and needs to be addressed collectively and comprehensively, World Health Organisation (WHO Zimbabwe) Health Systems Strengthening Advisor, Dr Stanley Midzi has said. By Michael Gwarisa Speaking in a virtual meeting recently, Dr Midzi said recent studies on Antimicrobial Resistance projected that if nothing serious is done now, AMR will lead to 10 million deaths per year (from current 700 000, more than cancer) by the year 2050 and this will result in in…

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How Animal Medications Are Fueling Drug Resistance In Humans

Healthtimes

ITS 10:00 in the morning and a Harare man walks into one of the Agroshops licensed as Veterinary Medicine General Dealers in the central business district enquiring of a possible remedial solution for his dying chickens. By  Kudakwashe Pembere Panting heavily and with a sad look, he tells the cashier the symptoms. Even though the attendant advises that the man takes the dead chickens for a post mortem, he proceeds to dispense some Oxytetetracycline which he says could cure the birth flue and get rid of the bacterial infection. He…

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