Ruma National Park,
The mighty rhinos living in a national park in Kenya face a new threat: microscopic, drug-resistant bacteria.
Scientists behind a study in a recent issue of New York-based academic journal EcoHealth discovered that bacteria samples found in the endangered animals in Ruma National Park, a protected area on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, had developed alarming levels of antibiotic resistance.
The rhinos appear to have become unexpected casualties of the global overuse of the drugs.
Resistance to them is growing because people take the drugs for non-bacterial diseases; don’t finish drug courses, allowing bacteria to recover and adapt; and because many farmers overuse the medicines on livestock.
Antibiotic use and abuse in Kenya has been rampant for decades, elevating levels of drug-resistant bacteria in people, livestock and now wildlife.
By The Eastafrica
