Antimicrobial resistance, also known as AMR, is a growing global health issue that has raised concerns among doctors, scientists, and public health experts. They warn that some of the world’s most effective antibiotics are losing their effectiveness against “superbugs”. When bacteria, viruses, and parasites stop responding to medications, it can lead to increased sickness and the spread of infections, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has cautioned that AMR could undo a century of medical progress and bring us back to a time before antibiotics, where treatable infections could become fatal.
AMR is believed to be responsible for millions of deaths each year and will disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries, the WHO reports. Health experts are calling for new solutions to combat this issue. Dr. Sylvia Omulo, an epidemiologist with a PhD in immunology and infectious diseases, is studying AMR at Washington State University’s campus in Nairobi, Kenya. For nearly two decades, she has been researching the connections between humans, animals, their environments, and the microbes they carry.
Dr. Omulo focuses on studying “colonisers”, which are microbes that people carry without showing symptoms of infection. These microbes can provide insights into the complex ecosystems within our bodies. By studying these colonisers, she has identified genes associated with AMR, factors that make some individuals more susceptible to resistant microbes, and how these traits are distributed within communities and hospitals.
Her research takes her beyond hospital settings and into communities like Kibera, Nairobi’s largest shanty town, and farms near Lake Victoria. Dr. Omulo emphasizes the importance of studying AMR in a community context, rather than solely focusing on hospital patients, as this can lead to biases in understanding the drivers of AMR.
In Kibera, Dr. Omulo has found that poor sanitation plays a significant role in the transmission of AMR. The densely populated area with inadequate sanitation systems allows for the spread of resistant bacteria and diseases. Despite common beliefs that antibiotic use is the primary cause of AMR, Dr. Omulo’s research challenges this notion and highlights the importance of considering environmental factors in understanding and combating AMR.