Accra, Ghana, November 15, 2019//-They are very small and cannot be seen with the naked eye, yet their effects are very harmful to humans.
The World Health Organization estimates that about 700,000 people die globally every year.
While about 10 million people will die every second by the year 2050 if nothing is done about the situation, according to experts.
Lying on a hospital bed at Densuso in the Suhum- Kraboa-Coalter District in the Eastern Region of Ghana, seven year old Abdul Malik is fighting for his life.
In the last two days, doctors administering antibiotic on him says his microbe is resisting all the medications due the excessive intake of antibiotics.
However, his parents say the primary two pupil has never been on any antibiotics and does not eat from outside, except from drinking from the Densu River, which serves the over 500 residents in the community.
“My son hardly get sick and has not been to any hospital so I am confused about the medical test that says that his system is resistance to antibiotics,” Hajia Memuna Malik, the mother of Malik said.
Densuso is a farming community where residents rely heavily on the Densu River for domestics purposes. They also use it irrigating their farms.
The River is however, surrounded by weeds and due to the absence of toilet facilities in homes , the residents defecate at the banks of the river while domestic animals also share the same source of water.
However to fight pest, farmers use agro chemicals on the farms which is washed into the river whenever it rains. They also wash their knapsacksprayers in the same river.
Interestingly, data from the Densuso CHPS Compound indicate that Abdul Malik is not the only one suffering Cholera, as Cholera, tuberculosis and bilharzias are the common sicknesses in the community.
Dr Kofi Afakye, a technical officer with the Food and Agriculture Organisation, explains that excessive use of pesticides that leach into water bodies pollute and destroys aquatic life.
The pollution also causes antimicrobial resistance. Again, he said humans get resistance gems from the environment and animals that have developed resistance to antibiotics just as the seven-year old system has developed resistance to such drugs.
A Medical Microbiologist at the University of Ghana, Dr Japhet Opintan, explained that irrational use of antimicrobials contributes to drug resistance among humans which can lead to death.
As of the time of filing this report a distress from the hospital, which had Malik’s mother’s wailing voice at the background said “he is dead.”
However, Dr Opintan said his death could have been averted if the chemical use could have been controlled and the community had observed good hygienic practices.
Prof Kwame Ohene Buabeng, Head of Department of Pharmacy Practice at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), also stressed: “Irrational use of antimicrobials leads to antimicrobial resistance, which is rather a deadly phenomenon because when the bugs are resistant, they fail to respond to the antimicrobials, patient condition worsens and the patient is likely to die if alternative and effective antimicrobial is not found in time to treat the resistant infection”.
Antimicrobials are drugs used for management of infections but it misuse has rather become toxic to humans, animals and the environment.
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