Professor Asad Ullah Khan of Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), has been appointed as member of Joint Research Centre of European Commission, Italy for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) surveillance programme.

AMR is global health issue for physicians to control infections. This centre is initiated to manage and make sense of knowledge to support European policies with independent evidence.

Professor Khan has been involved in AMR research for more than a decade. He has identified a number of mechanisms leading to antibiotic resistance and their interventions. He is also known for his “Aligarh Superbug” discovery in India as given in Asad Ullah Khan Wikipedia page He has developed several data bases and web server to provide easy information on AMR to the researchers and physicians in order to facilitate the possible treatment modalities. One of his databases on AMR has been recognised by the European commission for the discussion in upcoming meeting going to be held in Italy.

Background

What is a superbug?

A superbug, also called multiresistant, is a bacterium that carries several resistance genes. These are resistant to multiple antibiotics and are able to survive even after exposure to one or more antibiotics.

What causes them to mutate like that?

Like any living organism, bacteria can mutate as they multiply. Also like any living organism, bacteria have a strong evolutionary drive to survive. So, over time, a select few will mutate in particular ways that make them resistant to antibiotics. Then, when antibiotics are introduced, only the bacteria that can resist that treatment can survive to multiply further, proliferating the line of drug-resistant bugs.

Why is Antibiotic Resistance a Big Deal?

The discovery of antibiotics less than a century ago was a turning point in public health that has saved countless lives. Although antibiotic resistance develops naturally with normal bacterial mutation, humans are speeding it up by using antibiotics improperly. According to a research, now, 2 million people a year in the US develop antibiotic-resistant infections, and 23,000 of them die of those infections.

Why is the medical community worried?

Basically, superbugs are becoming more powerful and widespread than ever. Medical experts are afraid that we’re one step away from deadly, untreatable infections, since the mcr-1 E.coli is resistant to that last-resort antibiotic Colistin. Antibiotic-resistance is passed relatively easily from one bacteria to the next, since it is transmitted by way of loose genetic material that most bacteria have in common.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is afraid of a post-antibiotic world, where loads of bacteria are superbugs. Already, infections like tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and pneumonia are becoming harder to treat with typical antibiotics.