Hospital wards, meant to be sanctuaries of healing, may also be breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria, thanks to an unexpected culprit-flies. New research suggests that these seemingly innocuous insects could be spreading anti-microbial-resistant pathogens among patients, posing a significant threat to global health.

A study conducted by the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research (IOI) in collaboration with Nigerian researchers has revealed alarming findings: houseflies in hospitals carry bacteria resistant to key antibiotics, including those used as last-resort treatments. This raises concerns over antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a global crisis expected to claim over 39 million lives by 2050.

Scientists collected 1,396 flies from eight hospitals across six Nigerian cities-Abuja, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, and Sokoto-using sticky traps. Analysis of these flies uncovered 17 different bacterial species, including Staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of hospital-acquired infections. Many of these bacteria carried genes linked to antimicrobial resistance.