European Antibiotic
Awareness Day 2013*
Joining efforts to avoid
a post-antibiotic era
[Name presenter]
*The EAAD is a European health initiative coordinated by the European Centre for Disease
Prevention
and ControlAntibiotic
(ECDC) and supported
by the Day
European
Commission
and the WHO
European
Awareness
2013,
18 November
2013
Regional Office for Europe
“Antibiotic overuse, underuse and misuse
are the most important drivers of
resistance. That is why mapping both the
consumption of antibiotics and the
resistance patterns of infectious agents is
a primary step to spot and tackle this
growing public health problem.
Decision-makers urgently need this
information for appropriate
recommendations and regulatory action
on provision, prescription and
consumption of antibiotics”.
Dr Guenael Rodier
Director of Communicable Diseases,
Health Security and Environment
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
Antibiotic misuse is the major
driver of resistance
• No national regulation or enforcement on antibiotic usage
• Antibiotics given to healthy animals as growth promoters or
to prevent disease
• Commercial companies engaged in irresponsible promotion
• Antibiotics sold over the counter
• Antibiotics prescribed inappropriately,
including to treat viral infections
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
Antibiotics are a miracle of
modern science
• 20 years added to our life expectancy (together with
vaccination)
• Many millions of lives saved
• Surgery-related infections prevented
• Livestock more productive
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
Increasing antibiotic resistance
decreases effective treatment
• Antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon
• It is accelerated by misuse and overuse of antibiotics
• It claims lives, costs money, affects livelihoods,
undermines health programmes
No new antibiotic classes
discovered in 25 yrs.
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
Full picture of the European
Region still lacking
• Current situation in European Union alarming
– 5-12% hospital patients acquire infection during stay
– 400.000 patients catch a resistant strain each year
– 25.000 patients die
• MRSA & resistant E.coli in 31 European countries*
– 260.000 bloodstream infections
– 370.000 extra hospital days
– € 62 million
*De Kraker MEA et al., PLoS Medicine, 2011, 8(10) e1001104
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
Use antibiotics when and as
prescribed by a doctor
• Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses.
• Viruses cause 9 out of 10 sore
throats.
• Taking antibiotics unnecessarily
weakens their effectiveness.
• This enables bacteria develop
resistance to antibiotics.
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
Antibiotic resistance respects
no borders
• For the first time, antimicrobial
resistance listed as cross-border
threat in Decision No 1082/2013/EU
of European Parliament (entered into
force 6 November 2013)
• Resistant pathogens spread
everywhere through people and food
on the move
• The success of the Decision relies on
regional and global action
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
WHO addresses the challenge of antibiotic
resistance in the European Region
• Action plan building on momentum created by WHO in 2011
• Recognizing
– AMR neglected in many countries of the region
– no systematic AMR surveillance in large part
of the Region
– international spread of AMR through trade
and travel
– need for international standards and data
sharing
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
Progress of CAESAR
(Central Asian and eastern European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance)
• The following countries are now engaged in CAESAR:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia,
Montenegro, Kyrgyzstan,
Russian Federation, Serbia,
Switzerland, The former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Turkey,
as well as Kosovo (in accordance
with UN SCR 1244, 1999)
• Surveillance forms the basis for evidence-based action
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
WHO collects region-wide
antimicrobial use data
• WHO and University of Antwerp (Belgium) organise
technical workshops for data collection and analysis of
national antimicrobial use data
• Non-EU countries ready to
publish data: Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina,
Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,
Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan,
Turkey, as well as
Kosovo (in accordance with UN SCR 1244, 1999)
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
Antibiotic use and resistance in
[COUNTRY]
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013
A coordinated response is
urgently needed
"As antibiotic resistance is affecting the entire
WHO European Region, WHO is working closely
with countries in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and
Central Asia to complement the data collected by
European Union (EU)’ institutions such as the
European Centre for Disease Prevention and
Control (ECDC) for all countries of the EU and
the European Economic Area (EAA)”
(Dr Guenael Rodier)
European Antibiotic Awareness Day 2013, 18 November 2013