[EPA: BIM]

Julie Emond

A Superbug that causes a severe or life-threatening infection is called “Resistant” when the drug(s) commonly used to kill it no longer work. The drugs used to kill bugs, or infection-inducing fungi, bacteria, or viruses, are called antimicrobials. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when aSuperbug is able to spread resistance mechanisms to other bugs. Imagine the impact on public health? A simple papercut could allow an intruder, like resistant Staph bacteria, to enter your body through contact with a doorknob when you’re leaving a public restroom. This intruder causes small pimples to develop on your finger that are red, tender, and may ooze. If untreated, the infection may move into your blood and find your heart, bone joints, or lungs. The consequences of a bloodstream infection can be life-threatening, especially if this superbug cannot be stopped with an antimicrobial. The chances of this happening to any one of us are increasing. The problem is so large that scientists have projected by 2050, 10 million people globally will die every year because of drug-resistant Superbugs.

A large body of evidence shows us that widescale use of antimicrobials is driving the spread of AMR mechanisms amongst superbugs. Thus, we urgently need to stop the overuse of these agents. Can we ask a doctor who is trying to save a patient’s life to stop using antimicrobials, or a patient who is suffering from an infection to stop taking antimicrobials? No! That’s just not fair! Right? Well, past efforts have tried just that and hit a wall. Why? These efforts are not changing human behavior, and they are not taking all contributing factors into consideration. The spread of AMR resistance is not just a problem contained to a doctor’s office or to a hospital emergency room. It is broader problem, involving all aspects that impact human health; what experts refer to as the One Health Approach.

Human health, animal health and the health of our environment are all linked. 

For example, If we drink clean water, eat healthy foods, and the animals in our lives are healthy, we will be healthy? Did you know that the produce you eat can be coated in antimicrobials? Or the meat you buy can be injected with antimicrobials? Yes, it can! Antimicrobials are used to prevent animals from getting sick in the food industry, or to protect plants from pests that can destroy crops. Approximately 75% of all antimicrobials used globally are used in farming. Unfortunately, these large-scale efforts to protect our food are leading to the spread of superbugs as the antimicrobials used in the food industry are the same ones used to treat human disease. Unlike in an emergency room, where patients are treated with only milligrams of antimicrobials, the food industry commonly uses hundreds of tons of antimicrobials on livestock and produce! The superbugs on our food, in our water, on the animals we encounter, can make us ill. So what can we do

The World Health Organization, as well as national and local organizations have put together evidence-based action plans to prevent the spread of AMR. Despite the tremendous efforts of these organizations, our use of antimicrobials has not changed. Why? Because some ofthese efforts have been too focused on human healthand disconnected from where the biggest abuses of antimicrobials are.Further, these organizations have worked in isolation with limited resources, which has led to mixed messaging, loss of direction and discouragement. We need to work together to pool our efforts and motivate real change in behavior amongst all sectors that impact health. We need to align and use a One Health approach, which holds each one of us accountable and strengthens us withour shared vision: to stop the spread of AMR.