The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a new report on 27 February which purports to show that bacteria from humans and animals continues to show resistance to antimicrobials. The report confirms antimicrobial resistance as one of the major threats to public health, notably because of its effect in reducing the effectiveness of treatment options.

For the first time, ESBL-producing Salmonella Kentucky with high resistance to ciprofloxacin in humans was found in four countries. Detection of resistance to carbapenems in poultry was also included in the new findings. The European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, stressed the need to join efforts at the European level and implement rigorous policies on the use of antibiotics. You can read the full report here and access some figures and data here.

EuCheMS has previously issued warnings over the developing resistance to antimicrobials. In April 2016, EuCheMS co-organised a workshop in the European Parliament with the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Assessment (STOA) Panel and the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC) to analyse the global challenge and explore possible solutions. EuCheMS has moreover called for averting an antimicrobial resistance tragedy to be one of the eight Missions of the Future Framework Programme 9 (FP9).