Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Disinfectants – are we at the end of the road?

09 October 2020 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

SARS-CoV-2, an enveloped coronavirus, is susceptible to most disinfectants. Therefore, the majority of disinfectants, including those containing 70% ethanol, should be able to kill the virus fairly quickly.

Nevertheless, it was found that some bacteria are highly resistant to several commercially available disinfectants. These bacteria are currently still quite rare, and the work of the Veterinary Biotechnology group at the University of the Free State (UFS) aims to prevent the development of more highly resistant bacteria.

The research group in the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology is working on disinfectant resistance. They recently published an article, ‘Molecular basis of bacterial disinfectant resistance’.

Group members include: Prof Robert Bragg, professor in the department; Dr Charlotte Boucher, research associate; Samantha Mc Carlie, master’s student and laboratory manager; master’s students, Twyne Skein and Gunther Staats; honours students, Carlo Visser, Bernadette Belter, Boudine van der Walt, Jacky Huang, and Mart-Louise van Zyl; and an NRF intern, Gloria Kankam.

According to Mc Carlie, the work being done on disinfectant resistance is largely attributable to the major issues currently experienced with antibiotic resistance.

“Antibiotic resistance is becoming one of the biggest life-threatening challenges of our time – even overshadowing the current COVID-19 pandemic – as multidrug-resistant infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat. Bacterial infections that are present in hospitals and agriculture are becoming unresponsive to many of the antibiotics currently in use, marking the start of a post-antibiotic era.”

It is predicted that by 2050, antimicrobial resistance could lead to as many deaths as cancer causes today and could account for between 10 million and 50 million deaths per year.

Lack of proper biosecurity

Mc Carlie says the resistance to antibiotics is spreading rapidly due to a lack of proper biosecurity measures in the food and agricultural industry as well as in the hospital environment, even if the COVID-19 pandemic has gone a long way towards increasing the awareness of hospital staff to the importance of good biosecurity. Millions of rands are lost every year due to multidrug-resistant infections in the dairy and poultry industries of South Africa, and superbugs are present in almost every major hospital in the country.

“Currently, the best viable protection we have against bacteria is biosecurity and disinfectants. Biosecurity relies heavily on the use of disinfectants to control bacterial growth. This makes it only more troubling that disinfectant resistance is emerging at an alarming rate.”

She believes it is important to understand the mechanisms of resistance in order to combat resistance to disinfectants. “Once the mechanisms are identified, possible solutions can be investigated.”

The research group is currently monitoring disinfectant resistance, looking at which microorganisms are resistant to which disinfectants. They take environmental samples and test the levels of disinfectant resistance to observe the development and spread thereof.

Once they have an understanding of the development of disinfectant resistance, the Veterinary Biotechnology group will be able to make recommendations to hospitals and the agricultural industry on how to prevent the development of these resistant microorganisms.

“As we learn more about these highly resistant isolates, it will direct day-to-day treatment of multidrug-resistant infections and hopefully aid in the fight against antibiotic and disinfectant resistance,” says Mc Carlie.

The dangers of over-prescribing

“Resistance to antimicrobials such as antibiotics and disinfectants is a natural occurrence. We did not invent antibiotics, we discovered them, and so bacterial resistance has been around for as long as antibiotics have – as a survival strategy.”

“However, the widespread use of antimicrobials creates selective pressure for those microorganisms that are resistant to the antimicrobial being used. Over-prescribing and improper use of antibiotics has led to widespread antibiotic resistance. We expect the same trend to be seen with disinfectant resistance in the near future,” says Mc Carlie.

She urges the public to take note that disease-causing microorganisms can become resistant to antibiotics and disinfectants if they are not used correctly. A course of antibiotics should always be taken at the correct time and until the last dose. In the same way, disinfectants should be used at the recommended level and not diluted below that level.

These resistant organisms are causing major issues in the agricultural and medical industries, but this effect has not been seen in households yet. As long as disinfectants are used correctly, most will be able to kill the novel coronavirus.

There is, however, a need to establish tests on the efficacy of the massive number of ‘hand sanitisers’ that are now suddenly available.

According to Prof Bragg, existing disinfectants and hand sanitisers have been specifically tested against SARS-CoV-2 and have been found to be effective. He says the undergraduate students in the department will be evaluating a wide range of different hand sanitisers as part of their practical training.

Mc Carlie adds that the excessive use of poor-quality disinfectants as hand sanitisers can result in bacteria developing resistance to these disinfectants. “It is therefore very important that reliable high-quality disinfectants are used as hand sanitisers during this COVID-19 crisis, otherwise we will be replacing one crisis with a potentially even bigger crisis.”

Mc Carlie believes there is a need to start looking at alternatives to control bacterial growth. “Disinfectants are currently the only viable option, and if these microorganisms become resistant to disinfectants as well, we will have nowhere else to turn,” she says.

News Archive

CR Swart Memorial Lecture: Mr Cecil le Fleur

2006-08-08

Khoe and San call for government to speed up policy dialogue with indigenous communities

Mr Cecil le Fleur, leader of the National Khoe-San Consultative Conference and member of the executive management of the National Khoe-San Council, has called for a national policy on indigenous peoples to protect the human rights and special needs of indigenous people in South Africa.

Mr Le Fleur delivered the 38th CR Swart Memorial Lecture on the Khoe and San at the University of the Free State (UFS). He commended the UFS for its serious approach to the Khoe and San and for initiating initiatives such as a research project on the Griqua in which various aspects linked to language, -culture, -history, - leadership, their role in the South African community (past and present) and the conservation of their historical cultural heritages will be covered.

“The policy dialogue with indigenous communities initiated by government in 1999 and supported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has been exceedingly slow, owing to political and bureaucratic problems,” said Mr Le Fleur.

According to Mr Le Fleur the slow pace is also impacting negatively on the United Nations’ efforts to expand the international standards and mechanisms for human rights so as to include the special needs of indigenous peoples.

“The successful adoption of a South African policy would probably have a major impact on the human rights culture of Africa and, more specifically, on the UN system,” he said.

“South Africa has a powerful moral authority internationally and is willing to use this authority in multilateral forums. At this stage, however, South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) may not take an official position on UN instruments and declarations pertaining to indigenous issues, until the Cabinet has resolved its own domestic policy position,” he said.

According to Mr le Fleur it therefore came as a great surprise when the DFA brought out a positive vote in the UN for the adoption of the "Draft Declaration on the Rights of indigenous Peoples" in June this year, even before the completion of the policy process.

Policy consolidation in South Africa is the primary key to creating a new policy climate in Africa in order to protect the rights of indigenous peoples. “The existing constitution of the Republic of South Africa is one of the most liberal on the continent, and embraces the concept of redress of past discrimination. It already includes a clause (Section 6) making provision for the protection of language rights for Khoe and San peoples - the fist peoples of southern Africa,” he said.

“If South Africa can effectively integrate this ‘third generation’ of collective rights within an existing democratic constitution, this will send a clear message to Africa and the world that indigenous rights are a necessary component of human and civil rights in modern democracies,” he said.

Mr Le Fleur proposed an institutional framework based on set principles that would satisfy the needs and aspirations of the Griqua and other first indigenous peoples in South Africa. “The proposed framework was based on the notion of vulnerability as a result of colonialism and apartheid, which stripped us of our indigenous identity, cultural identity and pride as people. This injustice can hardly be addressed within the existing mechanisms provided by the current text of the Constitution,” he said.

Mr Le Fleur also proposed that the principles of unique first-nation status, as recognised in international law, should be applied in the construction of the framework of the constitutional accommodation for the Khoe and San.

Mr Le Fleur further proposed that the Khoe and San’s indigenous status in constitutional terms must be separate from the constitutional acknowledgement of their status as a cultural community, as envisaged in sections 185 and 186 of the Constitution of 1996.

According to Mr Le Fleur, the suggested mechanism should make provision for structures such as:

A statutory representative council for First Indigenous Peoples of South Africa at a national level;
a separate Joint Standing Committee on Indigenous and Traditional Affairs, in both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces on which the Khoe and San can be represented;
a representative structure for the Khoe and San in the legislature of each relevant province; and
ex officio membership in the relevant structures of local government.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
24 August 2006

- Full lecture
- Photo gallery

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept