Lagos: A Professor of Microbiology, Kabiru Akinyemi, on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to educate the populace on the dangers of indiscriminate drug use. Akinyemi made this call at the 112th Lagos State University (LASU) Inaugural Lecture Series, held at the Buba Marwa Auditorium on the university’s main campus.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Akinyemi, a Professor of Microbiology at the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, LASU, emphasized the need for a definitive diagnosis of typhoid fever cases through blood culture tests by private and public health workers. He noted that if the use of a single Widal test is unavoidable, it should be accompanied by a malaria parasite test.
Akinyemi advocated for mass education of the populace regarding the dangers of indiscriminate drug use, highlighting the importance of periodic reviews of antimicrobial agents in medical facilities due to the rapidly spreading plasmid-encoded multidrug resistance in bacteria. He also recommended a mass public campaign promoting safe methods of sewage and refuse disposal.
While addressing the theme of his lecture, ‘Itsy Bitsy Animacules In Our Lives: An Unending War And Survival Strategies’, Akinyemi discussed the ongoing battle against infectious pathogens. He listed pathogens such as black death, smallpox, influenza, Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19, and explained how human responses like hygiene, sanitation, vaccines, and antimicrobials combat these diseases. However, pathogens continue to adapt through mutation, zoonotic transmission, antibiotic misuse, urbanisation, climate change, and globalisation.
He detailed the survival strategies of microbes, including invasion and colonisation of host tissues, immune evasion through antigenic variation, and the ability to persist in the body despite host defences. Understanding the natural history, origins, evolution, and functions of antibiotics is crucial to developing new strategies for finding novel antibiotics and preventing resistance to current ones.
Akinyemi concluded that the perpetual war with microbes requires ongoing research, innovation, and capacity building for young researchers, as advancing scientific insight and technology provide hope in understanding and combating these pathogens.