Novel approaches to combat antimicrobial resistance in developing countries

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an emerging public health crisis whose threat to present-day antimicrobial efficacy and global progress in the control of infectious diseases has rapidly escalated. It presents as an even graver situation in developing countries, whose underdeveloped healthcare infrastructure, limited laboratory capacity, weak regulation in antimicrobial prescription and consumption, as well as restricted access to novel antimicrobials accelerates selection and proliferation of multidrug resistant organisms. Traditional methods such as the use of surveillance systems, infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial stewardship are vital but are insufficient by themselves. We must advance beyond incremental changes to the problem of the increasing AMR crisis, instead committing to the use of novel and locally appropriate solutions. This change is enabled by quick and low-cost diagnostics that circumvent poor laboratory infrastructure which leads to empirical wide-spectrum antibiotic prescription. Rapid and cost-effective diagnostics such as loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), lateral flow immunoassays and low cost molecular platforms can all be deployed to facilitate identification of the target pathogen as well as its susceptibility pattern at the bedside.