By Agbai Sharonjoyce
Antimalarials and antibiotics were once life-saving medicines. Today, many people might observe they are less so, as infections become harder to combat. However, this isn’t because the medicines have changed. The germs they were designed to kill have become more resistant.
When individuals misuse medicines—by stopping treatment early, taking the wrong doses or using drugs without diagnosis—bacteria and parasites adapt. Over time, these microbes develop resistance, making infections more difficult to treat.
Antibiotic resistance
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when parasites evolve and become able to withstand medicines formulated to kill them.
When drugs no longer work, infections last longer, become more severe and increase the risk of death. Worldwide, AMR is now recognised as a major threat to public health.
Antibiotics work by killing or stopping the growth of bacteria that cause infections such as urinary tract infections or sepsis. But inappropriate antibiotic use—in hospitals, communities, agriculture and the environment—fuels resistance.
Poor sanitation and weak infection control also allow resistant bacteria to spread easily.
Drug resistance is equally a significant threat in the fight against malaria, a mosquito-borne disease caused by parasites.
A striking example is chloroquine, once the gold-standard treatment for malaria. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, the most dangerous malaria parasite—plasmodium falciparum—developed resistance in regions like Southeast Asia, Oceania and South America.
Today, chloroquine resistance is widespread, and even strains like Plasmodium vivax have shown resistance.
The current frontline treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria is Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapy (ACTs). But parasites have begun to show reduced sensitivity to artemisinin in parts of East Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. If this resistance spreads further, it could reverse decades of progress in global malaria control.
Superbugs
Microbes that resist multiple medications are known as “superbugs”—and they can be extremely dangerous. Examples include Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), a common skin bacterium that becomes resistant to methicillin.
MRSA can cause severe infections in hospitals and communities. In fact, patients with MRSA are 64% more likely to die than those with non-resistant infections.
Another case involves Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), which are intestinal bacteria. They are resistant to carbapenem antibiotics, often referred to as the “last resort” for severe infections. CRE has spread globally, and rising resistance leaves doctors with few or no effective treatment options.
What can be done?
AMR threatens the foundation of modern medicine, but coordinated action can counteract its spread.
To reduce the need for antibiotics, individuals should get vaccinated and maintain proper hygiene. Also, they should complete the full course of antibiotics, even when symptoms improve
Doctors and health practitioners must prescribe antibiotics only when necessary and follow treatment guidelines. Initiatives like the Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme, designed to ensure rational use, should be strengthened.
In a similar vein, antibiotic use in livestock should be limited, while investments in new antibiotics and diagnostics should be ramped up.
Final takeaway
The rise of drug resistance is a race between medicine and microbes—and microbes are catching up fast. Every time antibiotics and antimalarials are misused, bacteria and parasites gain new strengths, making current treatments less effective.
If the world fails to control drug misuse, improve surveillance and encourage innovation, we may soon enter a future where simple infections and routine surgeries become life-threatening once again.
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