The Saga of Lough Neagh’s Deterioration Takes Another Toxic Turn

The deterioration of Lough Neagh seems to continue unabated and it now threatens to intersect with another public health crisis, the rise of bacteria resistant to antibiotics, the so called ‘Superbugs’. As the linked WHO article puts it

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines. As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become difficult or impossible to treat, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, disability and death. AMR is a natural process that happens over time through genetic changes in pathogens.

Obviously, managing the development of AMR is a critical concern for our health sector which is why the latest news from Lough Neagh proves so worrying. According to this article in ‘the Guardian’

‘Genes capable of creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs have been detected in the UK’s largest lake, which supplies drinking water to about 40% of Northern Ireland. Testing of water from Lough Neagh, which has a surface area 26 times bigger than Windermere, found genes resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, including carbapenems – drugs reserved for life-threatening infections when all other treatments have failed. Samples taken by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian found resistance genes spanning multiple antibiotic classes, from common penicillins to last-resort carbapenems, as well as quinolones, macrolides, aminoglycosides and cephalosporins, which are used to treat pneumonia and other serious infections.’

It all makes for exceptionally grim reading. As the Guardian article progresses it emphasises that the Lough has been poisoned by a combination of untreated sewage entering AND slurry run-off from the farms surrounding the Loughs and that Northern Ireland Water lacks the funding or resources to even begin tackling the issue. An unnamed water industry expert is quoted as saying that

“Forty per cent of Northern Ireland are drinking water from a fetid pond filled with bacteria from human and animal waste, and now, unsurprisingly, there are AMR genes.”

It should go without saying that something must be done to clean up the Lough and restore it to good health, yet in spite of numerous groups advocating for an intervention, the situation does appear to be going from bad to worse.

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