Union Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar on Friday that the Indian government has identified Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) as a key priority in its National Health Policy, 2017 and it has taken several initiatives to counter AMR holistically.

Union Minister of State for Health, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar on Thursday highlighted that Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) is a silent and invisible pandemic and said that AMR should be recognized as a global health threat at the third global high-level conference held in Muscat, Oman.

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 9 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the increase of multi-resistant bacteria is an ongoing threat to global public health, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warns. In 2019, 1.27 million people died from antibiotic-resistant infections, according to the largest study published to date, in The Lancet, in January 2022 (1).

New Jersey [US], June 8 (ANI): According to A new research at the University of Oxford, a bacterium called Pseudomonas is found which respond to being treated with Colistin, a 'last resort' antibiotic for patients who have developed multi-drug resistant infections.

Thiruvananthapuram Feb 27 PTI Harmful bacteria that cause diseases like TB and leprosy has become resistant to antibiotics warranting novel strategies to control it says a study by Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology RGCB here The study published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy reveals application of antibiotics results in a two-phase killing of bacteria with a significant part of it being killed rapidly while a smaller part endures the antibiotic and persists in the environment for extended periods The persisters also get killed because they remain susceptible to antibiotics but the killing rate is much slower Non-compliance with the duration of antibiotic therapy results in a relapse of infection caused by the persisters a press release from RGCB said Recent reports too say antibiotic persisters APs of mycobacteria develop resistance upon treatment with lethal doses of ciprofloxacin or rifampicin Research demonstrated that the persister population of M smegmatis generated by antibiotic treatment showed high levels of reactive oxygen species ROS which consequently resulted in the rapid emergence of drug resistance to single and multiple antibiotics Strategies to tackle drug-resistant strains include identification of new antibiotics or targeting the bacterial mechanisms that reduce the rate of evolution of resistance RGCB said We took the second approach as identifying new and potent antibacterial antibiotics takes time and should pass rigorous safety standards before using human therapy Dr Krishna Kurthkoti a scientist and researcher at RGCB said He conducted the study The study tested the efficacy of suramin a WHO-approved drug used for treating sleeping sickness and infections It showed that a combination of Suramin during antibiotic therapy reduced the emergence rate of drug resistance in M smegmatis and M tuberculosis under laboratory conditions Since Suramin is already an approved drug its repurposing to control the emergence of drug resistance would increase the life expectancy of existing drugs providing valuable time to develop and approve new antibiotics the release said RGCB director Dr Chandrabhas Narayana said the study highlights novel application of suramin as a broad-spectrum agent in combating the development of drug resistance It will bring into focus the need to discover new antibiotics to counter the emergence of antimicrobial resistance AMR which has become a major global health concern compelling the WHO to declare that the crisis needs immediate attention Narayana said A group of six virulent and drug-resistant pathogens has been identified as the biggest threat to human health According to a WHO report India reported cases of around 25 million TB and 124000 cases of MDR TB With the Central government taking up a policy to control TB developing new therapeutics and understanding the mechanisms that cause drug resistance in mycobacteria become necessary PTI RRT NVG NVG

Kolkata Nov 24 PTI The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday said it will hear on November 29 a petition by the BJP seeking direction to the West Bengal government and the State Election Commission SEC to hold municipal polls in the state in one phase BJPs lawyer prayed before the court for an urgent hearing on the matter claiming that the state government is mulling holding of elections to municipal corporations of Kolkata and Howrah Lawyers of the state government also prayed that hearing of the matter is held as early as possible A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj said it will hear the petition on Monday next The SEC had submitted an affidavit before the court earlier this week stating that it wants to hold elections to the municipal corporations of Kolkata and Howrah first as the number of double vaccinated people in these two cities is high It said elections to the other municipal bodies in the state would be held in phases later The petitioner BJP state vice-president Pratap Banerjee had prayed for a direction to the SEC and the state government that elections be held together to all civic bodies in the state where they are due and not on separate dates The petitioner claimed that elections to more than 100 municipal bodies in the state including Kolkata Municipal Corporation KMC and that of Howrah have been due for a long timeThe elections to those civic bodies were due in April-May 2020 but the polls were postponed due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic These municipalities and municipal corporations are being run by state-appointed Board of Administrators PTI AMR NN NN