SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

PROFESSORIAL INAUGURAL LECTURE

13th October 2026

Veterinary Medicine at the Crossroads: Clinical Insights and Antimicrobial Resistance in Animal Systems

By Prof. Amandus P. Muhairwa

This Professorial Inaugural Lecture traces a professional and scholarly journey from clinical veterinary practice to scientific inquiry and research on antimicrobial resistance. Drawing on experience with livestock, poultry, and companion animals, Prof. Muhairwa reflects on how persistent disease, recurrent outbreaks, diagnostic uncertainty, and variable responses to treatment raised important questions that clinical observation alone could not resolve.

These experiences led to investigations into pathogens, host–pathogen interactions, nutrition, management, disease ecology, and antimicrobial resistance. Collectively, this body of work points to a systems-based understanding of animal disease, in which clinical outcomes arise from interactions among infectious agents, hosts, treatment, production practices, and environmental conditions.

A central focus of the lecture is antimicrobial resistance (AMR), considered both as a biological–ecological phenomenon and a clinical challenge. Resistance determinants occur naturally within microbial populations, while antimicrobial exposure creates selection pressure that favours the survival, amplification, and dissemination of resistant organisms. The lecture therefore moves beyond the simplified proposition that antimicrobial misuse directly causes resistance, while recognising that unnecessary, inappropriate, or poorly managed antimicrobial use intensifies selection pressure.

The lecture also highlights an important gap between detecting antimicrobial resistance and understanding its clinical consequences. Much of the available evidence on animal AMR, including studies from Tanzania, has been generated from apparently healthy animals, food-chain sources, and environmental samples. Comparatively little evidence directly links pathogens isolated from naturally occurring clinical infections with antimicrobial susceptibility, treatment administered, and patient outcomes.

Importantly, treatment failure cannot automatically be attributed to antimicrobial resistance. It may also result from delayed intervention, incorrect diagnosis, inappropriate drug selection or dosage, poor drug quality, inadequate source control, underlying disease, or management constraints.

The lecture concludes by calling for stronger connections between clinical practice, diagnostic investigation, research, prevention, and antimicrobial stewardship. Priority should be given to tiered diagnostic capacity and clinically grounded studies that integrate case presentation, pathogen identification, antimicrobial susceptibility, treatment, and outcomes.

Such evidence is essential for rational therapy, relevant treatment guidelines, sustainable animal production, and the protection of antimicrobial effectiveness.

Date: 13th October 2026
Time: 2:00 PM
Venue: ICE Conference Hall