Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy launched in UK

The UK’s Department of Health has launched a five year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy. The scale of the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the case for action was set out in the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer, 2011, in March and the UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013 to 2018 sets out actions to address the key challenges to AMR.

The DoH said that resistance to all antimicrobials, including antivirals and antifungals, is increasing, but of greatest concern is the rapid development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. If the number of hard-to-treat infections continues to grow, then it will become increasingly difficult to control infection in a range of routine medical care settings. It maintains that antibiotic resistance can be managed to limit the threat to, and minimize the impact on, human and animal health.

Responsible use of antibiotics