The Central Government has launched a Rs. 9.3 crore research project to assess the microbial diversity along the entire length of the Ganga. The study will test if stretches of the 2,500 km long river contain microbes that may promote antibiotic resistance.
Participants
- The project is to be undertaken by scientists at the Motilal Nehru Institute of Technology, Allahabad; the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur; Sardar Patel Institute of Science & Technology, Gorakhpur, as well as start-up companies, Phixgen and Xcelris Labs.
Objectives
- The objective of the project is to indicate the type of “contamination” (sewage and industrial) in the river and “threat to human health (antibiotic resistance surge)”, identifying sources of Eschericia coli, a type of bacteria that lives in the gut of animals and humans.
Earlier Studies
- Researchers from Newcastle University in the U.K. and IIT-Delhi had sampled water and sediments at seven sites along the Ganga in different seasons in 2014. They reported that levels of resistance genes that lead to “superbugs” were about 60 times greater during the pilgrimage months of May and June than at other times of the year.
- A report by the Union Department of Biotechnology and the U.K. Research Council (2017) underlined that India had some of the highest antibiotic resistance rates among bacteria that commonly cause infections
