refresher courses
For the general public
9 Include patients and other antimicrobial consumers in the development and
implementation of action plans
For industry
10 Continue to develop and advance point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests to avoid
the prescription of antibiotics for viral infections and allow more targeted
therapy.
Conclusion
Antimicrobial resistance is a clear and present danger. Immediate and coordinated
measures must be taken worldwide to safeguard remaining antimicrobials and
facilitate the development of novel antimicrobials. Bans on nontherapeutic
antimicrobial consumption in livestock must be effectively championed despite
strong resistance from industrial sectors. Conservation programs must be further
optimized and implemented in other, non-acute healthcare settings such as long-
term-care facilities. Educational programs targeting both antimicrobial prescribers
and consumers must be further developed and supported. The general public must
continue to be made aware of the current scale of AMR’s threat. International
collaboration among researchers and policy-makers must solidify to effect lasting
reductions in the spread of antimicrobial resistance.Dantas, G., Sommer, M. O. A., Oluwasegun, R. D. and Church, G. M. (2008). Bacteria
subsisting on antibiotics. Science. 320. pg. 100-103.
http://arep.med.harvard.edu/pdf/Dantas08.pdf
- “Bacteria subsisting on antibiotics are surprisingly phylogenetically diverse, and
many are closely related to human pathogens.” - “In addition to the finding that bacteria subsisting on natural and synthetic
antibiotics are widely distributed in the environment, these results highlight an
unrecognized reservoir of multiple antibiotic-resistance machinery. Bacteria
subsisting on antibiotics are phylogenetically diverse and include many
organisms closely related to clinically relevant pathogens. It is thus possible that
pathogens could obtain antibiotic-resistance genes from environmentally
distributed super-resistant microbes subsisting on antibiotics.”
Davies, J. and Davies, D. (2010). Origins and evolution of antibiotic resistance.
Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews. 74(3). pg. 417-33.
http://mmbr.asm.org/content/74/3/417.full