ICMR’s Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance system (i-AMRSS): a promising tool for global antimicrobial resistance surveillance

Abstract

Background Growing resistance to antimicrobials has become an important health issue of the 21st century. Many international, national and local approaches are being employed for the control and prevention of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Among them, surveillance is reported to be the best method to reduce the spread of infection and thereby AMR. An integral component of AMR surveillance is the informatics suite for collection, storage and analysis of surveillance data. Methods Considering the traits of an optimal surveillance tool and constraints with existing tools, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) initiated the design and development of ICMR’s Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance system (i-AMRSS). i-AMRSS is a web-based tool built using modular architecture. It is capable of collecting standardized data from small laboratories to generate local and nationwide reports. Results i-AMRSS is a robust, comprehensive, modular, extensible and intelligent open-source tool piloted in ICMR’s AMR Network (31 hospitals and laboratories across India) since 2016. The developed tool has collected more than 280 000 patient records to date. Conclusions The standardized data collected through i-AMRSS would be valuable for various collaborators to monitor outbreaks and infection control practices, evaluate transmission dynamics and formulate antibiotic use and selling policies. The tool is presently being used to capture human testing and consumption data, however, it can be extended for AMR surveillance using a ‘One Health’ approach.

Relevance of the Consensus Principles for Appropriate Antibiotic Prescribing in 2022

“…By 2018, 63 member countries had published national action plans (NAPs) for AMR containment and analysis of 52 of these revealed that 44 had considered establishing a national surveillance system. 49 In a 2021 global survey of implementation of the GAP, over 90% of responding countries ( n = 163) commented that COVID-19 had a negative effect on the development and implementation of NAPs to address AMR, with reasons including funding issues and the need to defer activities and campaigns due to the pandemic. Only around one-half of countries had a coordinated mechanism to prioritize, cost, implement and monitor NAPs but over 60% had linked their NAPs to other health topics or plans.…”

Strengthening the Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance in India Using Integrative Technologies

“…The described tools will ensure a seamless flow of information from various data sources and its dissemination to various stakeholders for formulating guidelines and policies on AM consumption. The detailed system architecture and brief literature survey for each tool is given and described in the independent papers of these tools ( 14 , 15 , 17 ). The Real-time analysis of data will ensure the impact of policies is communicated to the policy-makers so that necessary steps can be taken in the right direction.…”

Phage engineering and phage‐assisted CRISPR‐Cas delivery to combat multidrug‐resistant pathogens

“…Approximately 0.7 million people die across the globe annually due to AMR pathogens, and it is estimated that this figure could outnumber cancer-driven mortality by 2050. 1 In 2017, the global antibiotics resistance market size was USD 7.81 billion, which increased by 5.6% in 2018. 2 Antibiotic resistance has a direct correlation with antibiotic consumption, and it is predicted that there could be surge of 200% in antibiotic consumption from 2015 to 2030.…”