Emerging policies on antimicrobial resistance, the consumption of antimicrobial agents and occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from humans and food producing animals
posted on 2017-04-10, 15:02authored byCatherine C. Adley, Aideen M. Dowling, Harald Handschuh, Michael P. Ryan
Emerging antimicrobial resistance is one of the barriers in controlling pathogenic bacteria. In attempting to understand the
emergence of antimicrobial resistance, European Member States are obliged to monitor and report antimicrobial resistance
in zoonotic Salmonella spp., and Campylobacter spp., isolates from food-producing animals since 2003. Reporting on
actual consumption of antimicrobial agents has been underway since 2010, together with monitoring and reporting of sales
of veterinary antimicrobial agents since 2009, by some countries and encompassing most of the EU/EEA in later years.
The first integrated report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Food Safety
Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) suggesting possible relationships between the
consumption of antimicrobial agents and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance was published in 2015. The scope of
the report was limited to a comparison of consumption of antimicrobials in food-producing animals including
Campylobacter spp., Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli as an indicator pathogen. The antimicrobials tested for
emerging resistance due to consumption were the fluoroquinolones, 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins and the
tetracyclines. Monitoring has been from, healthy animals and food for Campylobacter spp., while for Salmonella spp.,
monitoring has been on the prevalence of the bacteria. Macrolides against Campylobacter spp., only were also monitored.
The data provides a baseline for emerging antimicrobial resistance knowledge and when and if control measures are
working.
History
Publication
The Battle Against Microbial Pathogens: Basic Science, Technological Advances and Educational Programs, Méndez-Vilas, A (ed);pp. 913-922