Public-private partnership aims to boost AMR surveillance in Africa
Pfizer and Wellcome Trust yesterday announced a new partnership with the governments of Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, and Uganda to track antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in those countries.
The Surveillance Partnership to Improve Data for Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (SPIDAAR) is a multi-year, public-private collaboration that will provide governments and health officials in the four countries with comprehensive data on AMR patterns and the burden of drug-resistant infections on patients.
Planning for the SPIDAAR began in 2019 with teams identifying health facilities in the four countries. The next phase will initiate surveillance programs at the selected facilities. The program will include a separate, prospective real-world data study to assess AMR rates in each country and the clinical costs of hospital-acquired infections.
"Drug-resistant infections are a huge global health threat, undermining advances in medicine and reversing health progress in countries like Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda over the last 20 years," Gemma Buckland Merrett, PhD, Wellcome's science lead for drug-resistant infections, said in a Pfizer press release. "Only through effective surveillance in hospitals and all healthcare settings can we gather the information essential to understand and track these dangerous infections, stop the spread, and protect patients."
Program data will be made available on Pfizer's Antimicrobial Testing Leadership and Surveillance (ATLAS) platform and Wellcome's AMR Register.
Jun 24 Pfizer press release
AMR stable, antibiotic use down in the Netherlands, new report finds
A report today from Dutch health officials indicates that AMR patterns in the Netherlands remained stable in 2019 and that primary care physicians and veterinarians are prescribing fewer antibiotics.
The NethMap 2020 report shows that for most antibiotics, there have been very few statistically significant and clinically relevant shifts in resistance levels since 2015, both in general practices (GPs) and hospitals in the Netherlands. Most notably, the percentage of highly resistant microorganisms (HRMOs) and multidrug-resistance in Enterobacteriaceae remained stable in both settings, at less than 5% in GPs and less than 10% in hospitals. Among specific pathogens, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus prevalence (less than 1%) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus prevalence (less than 2%) remained low.
"For now, the data on resistance look encouraging," the authors of the report wrote.
Total systemic antibiotic use in outpatients also fell slightly, dropping to 8.68 defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 inhabitant days. Inpatient use increased to 90.7 when expressed as DDD/100 patient-days but remained stable at 339.7 when expressed as DDD/100 admissions. In veterinary medicine, sales of antibiotics fell by 16.1% compared with 2018 and by 70% compared with the index year 2009.
AMR in the various animal husbandry sectors also remained stable or decreased slightly, with the percentage of extended-spectrum beta lactamase-producing bacteria declining in all sectors, most dramatically in broiler chickens and chicken meat.
"In recent years, extra measures have been taken in the Netherlands to combat antibiotic resistance," the authors said. "These measures extend beyond the healthcare system because resistant bacteria also occur in animals, in foodstuffs and in the environment. That is why a 'One Health' approach is used in the Netherlands."
Jun 25 NethMap 2020 report