High Levels of Resistance to Critical Drugs Among Pathogens in Kenyan Meat Point to Global Trend of Increasing AMR
A recent study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Antibiotics, has added to the growing amount of evidence regarding the global rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in foodborne pathogens, finding concerning levels of microbiological contamination and multidrug resistance (MDR) to critical antibiotics among pathogens isolated from pork and poultry meat samples purchased from leading retail outlets in Kenya.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), AMR is a leading cause of death around the world, and was associated with 4.95 million deaths in 2019 alone. The spread of resistant genes and pathogens has been accelerated by a number of environmental and social factors, such as the inappropriate use of antibiotics in agriculture. The international community has turned its attention to mitigating the increasing trend of AMR, of which AMR in foodborne pathogens is a large part, in recent years.