Australian coalition to address antibiotic resistance in food, agribusiness
A coalition of 70 organizations in Australia is joining forces to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the food and agribusiness industries.
Announced last week, the Cooperative Research Centre for Solving Antimicrobial Resistance in Agribusiness, Food, and Environments (CRC SAAFE) will bring together partners from water, organic waste, aquaculture, horticulture, viticulture, animal feed, and livestock sectors to develop shared solutions to monitor, manage, and mitigate the spread of AMR.
The effort will focus on the emergence and spread of resistant pathogens on farms, in feed and food production systems, and in waste processing. Partner organizations will work on developing solutions such as vaccines, water treatment technologies, and new animal feed and supplements.
"Antimicrobial resistance makes our food supply less safe," CRC SAAFE CEO and University of South Australia professor Erica Donner, PhD, said in a university press release. "Internationally, there are many cases of multidrug resistant bacterial strains causing serious disease being spread via food. CRC SAAFE will help Australian industries stay on top of this risk, ensuring we remain a top producer of premium food and beverage products."
CRC SAAFE will receive $34.5 million Australian Dollars from the Australian government, and partner organizations will contribute an additional $115 million.
May 6 University of South Australia press release
Clinical decision support boosts stewardship at community hospital
Implementation of a clinical decision support system (CDSS) in a tele-antimicrobial stewardship program (TASP) at a community hospital was associated with reduced antibiotic use, higher use of oral antibiotics, and faster time to therapy, researchers reported today in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
In the study, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh conducted an interrupted time series analysis to assess differences in antibiotic use before and after the CDSS was implemented at a 146-bed community hospital in Pennsylvania. In July 2018, infectious disease (ID) consult services at the hospital were transitioned to remote telemedicine utilizing ID physicians from the University of Pittsburgh Division of Infectious Diseases. The CDSS, which provides real-time alerts to ASP members on bug-drug mismatches, positive cultures, de-escalation opportunities, and other scenarios of interest, was implemented in February 2020 to address the challenges of not having an ID specialist on site.
Implementation of the CDSS into the TASP was associated with an immediate 11% reduction in antibiotic use. Prior to CDSS implementation, antibiotic use was trending downward by 0.25% per month, and continued to trend down after CDSS implementation by 0.24% per month. In addition, the frequency of conversion from intravenous (IV) to select oral (PO) agents increased from 38% to 57% in the 6 months after implementation compared with the 6 months prior, and median time to optimal therapy (TTOT) was one day faster (2.9 day pre-CDSS vs 1.9 days post-CDSS).
On average, pharmacists documented 2.2-fold more interventions per month (198 vs 90) and patients received 1.03 fewer days of antibiotics per admission post-CDSS.
"Implementation of a CDSS into an established, integrated TASP at a community hospital allowed for increased involvement and transfer of knowledge from remote ID experts, resulting in decreased total antimicrobial usage, increased rates of IV to PO conversion, improved TTOT, decreased antimicrobial exposure, and improved workflow efficiency," the study authors wrote. "Implementation of the CDSS addressed several challenges in our TASP, while minimizing the need for additional staffing support."
May 9 Open Forum Infect Dis abstract