It probably won’t have escaped your attention that it’s World Antibiotic Awareness Week (#WAAW). Here’s a quick summary of what’s going on this week that may be of interest. Please feel free to add to this shared resource in the comments section.
Year: 2017
No more antibiotics for animals
That’s what the WHO stated this week, and it was based on a study, in Lancet Planetary Health. In most news items that I saw animal antibiotic use was directly linked to human infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria. A journalist even asked if eating meat was safe. Although most of us (including me) support reduction of unnecessary antibiotic use, it’s worth reading this excellent meta-analysis, initiated by WHO. Did this study answer the burning research question “to what extent does animal antibiotic use influence infections in humans?“ Continue reading
Making MRSA carriage a crime?
A new chapter has been added to our successful MRSA Search and Destroy policy. Yesterday, a healthcare professional, providing homecare to elderly, testified on Dutch television (item starts @ 12.30 minutes) how unnoticed MRSA carriage had influenced her and her family’s life. It is very laudable that she was willing to share her experience, but it was kind of spooky that she felt that she could only do this if unrecognizable, as if the underworld was still after her and her family. Apparently, MRSA carriage has become a criminal or shameful thing. Continue reading
ESPAUR Report 2017: two steps forward, one step back
The next iteration of the annual ESPAUR report has been published. It’s a comprehensive, epic tome (almost 200 pages, plus an online appendix if that’s not enough for you!) so, I’ve summarised a few key points here – but the whole report is well worth a read. The number of Gram-negative BSIs is increasing (and we don’t know why); overall antibiotic prescribing is down driven by GP reductions; there’s a small increase in antibiotic prescribing in hospitals overall but early success in reducing broad spectrum agents (pip/tazo and carbapenems); and the results of the national PPS are out!
The antibiotic resistance crisis resolved by bacteriophages (part 2)
Earlier this week I blogged on the potential (yet poorly proven) effects of bacteriophages as salvage therapy for infections caused by AMR, and stated: “Phages and their active enzymes are proteins that evoke an immunological host response when injected, and up till now all attempts to circumvene those unwanted effects have failed.” Two recent case reports challenge part of that statement. Continue reading
The antibiotic resistance crisis resolved by bacteriophages
I am regularly asked why we don’t treat infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria with bacteriophages. Last Friday, the same question made it to the best viewed talkshow on Dutch television (The World Turns On), and in about 10 minutes the global threat of antibiotic resistance was resolved. Here is how…. Continue reading
International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW): resources
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A quick post to highlight that it’s International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW). IPS and APIC have published a few useful resources:
Counting the cost of HCAI-related litigation
I heard an eye-opening talk at IPS about the cost of HCAI-related litigation to the NHS. This is something that gets talked about a lot in economic analyses (“these figures do not include the cost of litigation”), but it is difficult to find accurate figures on the scale of the expense. Data from NHS Resolution* suggests that HCAI-related litigation costs the NHS in the region of £60m per annum, which accounts for around 4% of all harm settlements from NHS Resolution each year.
Mutational colistin resistance in CPE is the clear and present danger, not plasmid-mediated mcr genes
There has been a lot of concern in scientific journals and the mainstream media about colistin resistance in Enterobacteriaceae caused by plasmid-mediated resistance genes (the mcr genes). However, an article published today by our group suggests that mutational colistin resistance rather than plasmid-mediated mcr genes is a more pressing clinical threat.
Being prepared for the next pandemic
One of the first things you learn in medical school (or at least the oldest thing I remember from that time) is that the next flu pandemic can happen any time, now! You can’t argue with it, and it holds for all pathogens with pandemic potential. Pandemics (or what could become one) are threatening (think of Ebola and SARS) and usually give rise to many questions, such as what is the optimal diagnostic approach, treatment and prevention strategy. Research plans emerge, but before the studies can start, the pandemic is over, and hardly anything has been learned. That, now, should end. Continue reading
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 