Annals of Clinical Microbiology, The official Journal of the Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology
Review article

European Strategies to Control Antibiotic Resistance and Use

Herman Goossens

Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Institute, University of Antwerp and University Hospital Antwerp, Edegem, Belgium

Corresponding to Herman Goossens, E-mail: Herman.Goossens@uza.be

Ann Clin Microbiol 2014;17(1):1-8. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2014.17.1.1
Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.

Abstract

Europe has taken many political actions since 1999 to better control antimicrobial resistance and use, including two European Council Recommendations and actions taken by numerous European Union (EU) presidencies. These presidencies triggered many public health and research actions in the EU. Europe developed several very successful surveillance programmes on antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use, both currently coordinated by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). These surveillance programmes were able to identify emerging problems of antibiotic resistance and targets for quality improvement of antimicrobial use; they also conducted impact assessments of campaigns to reduce antibiotic use and increase hand hygiene. The public antibiotic awareness campaigns were very successful in reducing antibiotic use and resistance in countries like Belgium and France. The successes of these campaigns inspired ECDC to launch an annual European Antibiotic Awareness Day on November 18, 2008. The hand hygiene campaigns resulted in a dramatic decrease of MRSA infections in many EU Member States. However, ESBL- producing Gram-negative bacteria and Carbapenem- resistant Enterobacteriaceae and non-fermenters are increasing in most EU countries. Finally, the EU is investing hundreds of millions of EUROs in a Public Private Partnership (PPP), called the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). An important initiative of IMI is the launch of the Combating Antibiotic Resistance NewDrugs4BadBugs programme. The goal of this new research programme is to create an innovative and collaborative PPP-based approach that will positively impact all aspects of the antimicrobial resistance issue, from the discovery of novel products to Phase 1-3 clinical trials. (Ann Clin Microbiol 2014;17:1-8)

Keywords

Drug resistance, European union, Microbial