ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE: A GLOBAL THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH

There is an alarming worldwide increase in antibiotic resistance. According to a new WHO report, between 2018 and 2023, antibiotic resistance rose in over 40% of the pathogen-antibiotic combinations, with an annual average increase of 5-15%. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, says antimicrobial resistance (AMR) outpaces modern medical advances. The Global antibiotic resistance surveillance report 2025 covers eight common bacterial pathogens that are rising in antibiotic resistance. These pathogens, which include Acinetobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae, are significant due to their widespread prevalence and the severity of the diseases they cause.

Remoteness from laboratory diagnostic services usually means AMR screening is unavailable, and doctors need to prescribe without antibiotic sensitivity data. These situations can lead to prescribing inappropriate antibiotics, which can worsen the patient's condition, develop more resistant strains of bacteria, and increase healthcare costs. This not only risks the life of the patient but also contributes to the overuse of last resort antibiotics. Not surprisingly, AMR is highly prevalent in war zones, where emergency life-saving treatments must occur in the absence of access to clinical diagnostic services.

Point-of-care diagnostic technology that can identify the pathogen and its antibiotic resistance status will become critical as a toolkit for addressing this worldwide problem.

DNAiTECH’s Gen3 portable LAMP-CRISPR technology is a versatile solution deployed anywhere to identify such pathogens rapidly. Being a battery-powered device, operational for multiple days without recharge, it ensures that power constraints do not hinder the diagnostic process, making it a reliable tool in various settings, such as primary care, veterinary care, on farm, in the field, in LMIC situations, and conflict zones. DNAiTECH’s technology employs the powerful amplifying isothermal method LAMP, with CRISPR as the secondary proof-reading reaction, providing high sensitivity and specificity. The images provided illustrate the effectiveness of DNAiTECH’s technology in identifying Staphylococcus aureus by targeting the 16s  and femA gene targets, as well as detecting mecA, the AMR marker. This approach differentiates MSSA (methicillin-sensitive) and MRSA (methicillin-resistant) strains.   The graphical time course shows the CRISPR readout at 0, 5 and 10 minutes of colour development, after the LAMP reaction. The key feature of this test, only MRSA exhibits fluorescence in the lower left test zone, indicating the presence of methicillin resistance; this infection cannot be treated with methicillin.