Global Cause
In this issue
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Combatting antimicrobial resistance: molecular diagnostics holds the key
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are one of the major threats to the global healthcare system. Some have commented that it is a more immediate threat to us than global warming. A UK independent review estimated that, unless effective action is taken, drug-resistant strains of certain bacterial infections will claim 10 million lives each year by 2050....
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Are public-private partnerships the answer to AMR?
Drug resistance has been identified by the WHO as among the biggest threats to health and development. However, few new antibiotics are being developed, with half of all treatments used today discovered during the 1950s. While drug resistance occurs naturally over time, a number of factors have increased resistance in bacteria. These include overuse and...
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Finding solutions to antibiotic overuse
Antibiotic resistance is the climate crisis of medicine — the man-made depletion of a vital medical resource due to rampant worldwide overuse. Norwegian researcher, Dag Berild, has been studying rational antibiotic use for 30 years and explains how C-reactive protein point-of-care testing, using devices is a simple step doctors can take to help curb this...
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Replacing foolish use of antimicrobials with smart management
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a fast-growing problem caused by human and animal use of antimicrobials. Optimal interventions are hampered by lack of surveillance. It was suggested that the problem of AMR originated from the use of antimicrobials in humans, but this is not necessarily the case. The antibiotic, fluoroquinolone, was approved for human use in...
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Leveraging the immune response and machine learning to fight AMR
A new platform that measures the body’s immune-protein response, coupled with machine learning, can accurately distinguish between bacterial and viral infections within minutes – an effective tool in the fight against AMR. The Challenge: Is it a bacterial or viral infection? To treat or not to treat with antibiotics? When a patient presents with fever,...
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Community pharmacy teams are key in antimicrobial stewardship
The primary goal for antimicrobial stewardship is optimising outcomes for patients while minimising unintended consequences. It is also an approach that aims to reduce the transmission of infections and educate healthcare professionals, patients and the public. Alongside infection prevention and control, making better use of data and improved diagnostics, antimicrobial stewardship is an essential component...
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Using a health partnerships approach helps tackle AMR through antimicrobial stewardship
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant patient safety, public and global health threat. For that reason, it is important to take concerted efforts towards tackling AMR. The World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed a global action plan on AMR in 2015 and in 2016 193 Heads of States committed for the first time to taking a...
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UK rising to challenge of antimicrobial resistance
With deaths now exceeding 700,000 per year globally, and predicted to reach 10 million per year by 2050, the challenge posed by antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest facing the world today, says Health Minister, Steve Brine.
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What’s your antibiotic footprint?
We already know about the carbon footprint and combatting climate change. Now it’s time to look at our ‘antibiotic footprint’.
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The importance of what, when, where and how in diagnostics
Diagnostics are a crucial weapon in the battle against antimicrobial resistance, but they can only deliver their true potential if we get right the what, when, where and how of diagnostic use.