Potential severity of antimicrobial resistance in context of COVID-19 pandemic and phage-assisted bio-control: one health approach in Benin and Pakistan

Several studies reported that bacterial co-infections have been considered an important contributor to morbidity and mortality of COVID-19. Indeed, in the absence of biological laboratory diagnoses of the etiology of patients co-infected with COVID-19, physicians administer more different antimicrobials. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are cough and fever, which are independent factors associated with antibiotic overuse in hospitals and communities. In addition, the incidence of self-medication is very high in developing countries such as Benin and Pakistan, with overuse of antibiotics. All of these are factors that increase antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the spread of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria in the environment. As the world works to overcome and control the COVID-19 pandemic, it is also critical to assess the impact of AMR in this particular context of COVID-19 pandemic in order to prepare for the broad implications of this epidemic on AMR development. This project aims to evaluate the flow of AMR genes according to One Heath approach in context of COVID-19 pandemic in Benin and Pakistan and to develop effective phage cocktails against MDR bacteria of interest in public health. The implementation of this project was funded by TWAS-IsDB with $100,000 for three years.