Microbial Muzzzings: Antimicrobial Resistance poses 'catastrophic threat', say Chief Medical Officer

There is an important medical need that must be confronted and tackled to prevent modern medicine slipping back in time. This need is to address the specter of antimicrobial resistance which is potentially reaching catastrophic proportions. This has been highlighted in the recent report by the chief government medical officer Prof Dame Sally Davies. Dame Sally reports on the ‘discovery void’ that appears to be present with very few antibiotics being developed in the past twenty years and this contrasts new infectious diseases that have been described nearly every year in the last thirty years!

Dame Sally’s report highlights the importance of looking after the antibiotics we currently have and supporting their use with improved hygiene and better prescribing policies making sure we only use antibiotics when there is a need. It is important to remember that antibiotics do not work against infectious agents such as viruses and it is vital to target the correct bacteria with an appropriate antibiotic.

This sort of action will help us tackle the next generation of hospital acquired infections including the newly described strains of pneumonia causing Klebsiella strains.

The report indicates that, Antimicrobial resistance now needs to be put on the national risk register as a major concern and bought to the attention of politicians and policy makers. There needs to be better surveillance across the NHS and around the world to monitor the situation as it develops further. There needs to be collaboration between healthcare and pharmaceutical companies to tackle the so called ‘discovery void’ and create new drugs and preserve the current ones.

We need to monitor antibiotic usage and policy globally in both human and animal healthcare to help develop new drugs and re-enforce the need for good antibiotic stewardship so that what are currently referred to as routine infections do not become life threatening.

Please also consider signing the petition on the Antibiotic action Website (http://antibiotic-action.com/) and follow Antibiotic action on Twitter @theurgentneed