GANGA ACTION PLAN, HETEROGENEOUS PHYTO-ANTIBIOTICS AND PHAGE THERAPY ARE THE BEST HOPE FOR INDIA TACKLING SUPERBUG SPREAD AND CONTROL

Abstract

Life forms change with environmental toxicities. Most bacteria became multiple drug resistant due to use of high doses of antibiotics since 1940s. WHO and G-20 Leaders issued action plan to discover alternate to antibiotics. India needs to monitor spread of MDR bacteria in Ganga River which spans 2550 KM. India has also vast resources of medicinal plants to study as depicted in Sanskrit book like Charaka Samhita. In the earlier communications, we described the identification of many MDR bacteria from Kolkata Ganga River water, Rain water and Sewage water and many common West Bengal plants have no antibacterial activities but Suregada multiflora and Cassia fistula. Here, we have extended such studies to show the complex drug sensitivities, molecular identification of mdr genes as well as purification of active chemicals by TLC and HPLC followed MASS, NMR, and FT-IR technologies. Kolkata Ganga River water and Bay of Bengal water were polluted with MDR bacteria and mdr genes like beta-lactamases (blaTEM, blaCTX-M1/2/9, and blaNDM-1), acetyl-, phospho- transferases (aacC1, aacA4, aphA2) as well as mcr, tet, acr and mex types drug efflux genes are activated giving resistant to advance drug derivatives like imipenem, colistin, amikacin, linezolid, vancomycin, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone and lomofloxacin. Ganga Action Plan has been initiated by Indian Government with estimated >40,000 crores with mission 2020, when all industrial and domestic effluents will be treated before reach river and such effort will reduce MDR bacterial load in water. Phage therapy is another method of superbug control which is under process for FDA approval. We have also detected Pseudomonas specific bacteriophages in Kolkata sewage and Midnapore city pond. However, Ganga River water has less lytic bacteriophages indicating a symbiotic relation is exist. This implies that phage resistant factor is very important obstacle using bacteriophages in clinical therapy. Thus, our work has initiated to unfold new methods of superbug therapy following WHO and Indian Government guidelines.