Optimal use of antibiotic resistance surveillance systems

Abstract

Increasing concern about the emergence of resistance in clinically important pathogens has led to the establishment of a number of surveillance programmes to monitor the true extent of resistance at the local, regional and national levels. Although some programmes have been operating for several years, their true usefulness is only now being realised. This review describes some of the major surveillance initiatives and the way in which the data have been used in a number of different settings. In the hospital, surveillance data have been used to monitor local antibiograms and determine infection control strategies and antibiotic usage policies. In the community, surveillance data have been used to monitor public health threats, such as infectious disease outbreaks involving resistant pathogens and the effects of bioterrorism countermeasures, by following the effects of prophylactic use of different antibiotics on resistance. Initially, the pharmaceutical industry sponsored surveillance programmes to monitor the susceptibility of clinical isolates to marketed products. However, in the era of burgeoning resistance, many developers of antimicrobial agents find surveillance data useful for defining new drug discovery and development strategies, in that they assist with the identification of new medical needs, allow modelling of future resistance trends, and identify high-profile isolates for screening the activity of new agents. Many companies now conduct pre-launch surveillance of new products to benchmark activity so that changes in resistance can be monitored following clinical use. Surveillance data also represent an integral component of regulatory submissions for new agents and, together with clinical trial data, are used to determine breakpoints. It is clear that antibiotic resistance surveillance systems will continue to provide valuable data to health care providers, university researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and government and regulatory agencies.

Comparison of Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg Susceptibility Testing Results

“…Time is of the essence in cases of widespread disease outbreaks or potential bioterrorism events, where large numbers of isolates would be screened to determine if they are resistant to the first-line drug therapy. [16][17][18][19][20] In the current study, we compared the results of four different AST methods (agar disk diffusion method, manual broth microdilution, semi-automated broth microdilution, and Vitek) in S. enterica serovar Heidelberg isolates.…”

Actualización de la resistencia a antimicrobianos de bacilos Gram negativos aislados en hospitales de nivel III de Colombia: años 2006, 2007 y 2008

“…La resistencia a antimicrobianos se ha identificado como uno de los mayores problemas de salud pública a nivel mundial (1), por lo cual requiere un seguimiento permanente a través de sistemas efectivos de vigilancia (2). Esto se ha documentado desde 1970, en un estudio sobre la eficacia del control de infecciones hospitalarias (Study on the Efficacy of Nosocomial Infection Control, SENIC) en Estados Unidos, al mostrar que la vigilancia intensiva, junto con otros programas de control de infecciones, se asociaba con una reducción significativa de las tasas de este tipo de infecciones (3).…”

A One Health approach to antimicrobial resistance surveillance: is there a business case for it?

“…Disease surveillance provides evidence for informed decisions on interventions and AMR surveillance is no exception [7,8]. Surveillance of AMR is critical for impact evaluation of, for example, interventions that change guidelines of antimicrobial usage or infection control [9].…”

“…Surveillance of AMR is critical for impact evaluation of, for example, interventions that change guidelines of antimicrobial usage or infection control [9]. Moreover, it provides information on AMR emergence and occurrence relevant for the public, patients, health care providers, governmental agencies and researchers [7].…”