Mapping and Tracking Superbugs – Global wastewater monitoring of drug resistance

Send us Fan MailDrug-defying superbugs can be found in manure, soil, the ocean, and especially in sewers.  These places are sources of infection, but they also provide a way to keep an eye on which drug-resistant germs are where – and how much they are changing. The World Health Organization encourages mapping all of the places drug-resistant organisms are popping up, and what kind of organisms there are. “If no action is taken, AMR (antimicrobial resistance) could cost the world’s economy US$ 100 trillion by 2050,” WHO says. Windi Muziasari, PhD, became passionate about tracking these deadly germs while doing postdoctoral research at the University of Helsinki in Finland. The Indonesian-born scientist founded her own company to do this mapping for governments, communities, and companies. As Founder and CEO of ResistoMap, Muziasari has looked for drug-resistant microbes in agricultural runoff, in hospitals, under city streets, among wildlife, and elsewhere in dozens of countries. The hope is to act as an early warning system so that companies, governments, and others can do something about the problem. “Almost everywhere is polluted,” she tells us on the One World, One Health podcast. Listen as Windi Muziasari tells host Maggie Fox about how and why she got started and what she's learned since launching ResistoMap.