Misuse and overuse of antimicrobials is a main driver of antimicrobial level of resistance (AMR). A doctor evaluations a sample at a microbiology lab in a teaching hospital in Nigeria.
Tracking resistance
Even though most antimicrobial resistance tendencies have remained stable over the past four years, bloodstream bacterial infections due to resistant E. coli, Salmonella, and gonorrhoea infections, have leaped by at least 15 per cent compared to 2017 rates. We must level up microbiology testing – WHO main © WHO/Etinosa Yvonne
WHO will follow a two-pronged approach to overcome this particular critical gap, by gathering short-term evidence through studies and creating long-term capacity building for routine monitoring.
Within the context of national testing coverage, the record, for the first time, analyses antimicrobial resistance (AMR) rates, tracking developments in 27 countries since 2017.
Moving forward
Bacterial infections are becoming increasingly resistant to treatments, with over 60 per cent of Neisseria gonorrhoea bacterial infections, a common sexually transmitted disease, showing resistance to ciprofloxacin, one of the most widely used mouth antibacterials. These ‘ACCESS’ antibiotics are effective in a wide range of infections having a relatively low risk of creating resistance. “ Anti-bacterial resistance undermines modern medicine and places millions of lives at risk”, said WHO SEEM TO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. However , insufficient testing coverage and fragile laboratory capacity, particularly within LMICs, make AMR rates difficult to interpret.
