WHO publishes evidence on high level of AMR worldwide

WHO launched the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) in October 2015, the first global collaborative effort to establish a standardized approach to collecting, analyzing and sharing data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) worldwide.

The report confirms the serious situation of AMR worldwide. It contains information on antibiotic resistance levels provided by 22 countries. Most commonly reported resistant bacteria were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, followed by Salmonella spp. The report did not monitor drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, malaria or HIV because they have own drug resistance surveillance programs. Some of the world's most common and potentially most dangerous infections are proving drug-resistant.

Surveillance data is essential to help make better informed decisions when treating patients; for this reason WHO is encouraging all countries to set up good surveillance systems for detecting drug resistance that can provide data to this global system.

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Access WHO’s GLASS report: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/259744/1/9789241513449-eng.pdf?ua=1