Introduction & module overview
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is defined as the resistance of a micro-organism to an antimicrobial medicine to which it was originally sensitive. Organisms that are able to withstand attack by antimicrobial medicines, such as antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals and antimalarials, include bacteria, fungi, viruses and some parasites. This can lead to standard treatments becoming ineffective and infections persisting, increasing the risk of spread to others.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted in several countries – including the UK – the resistance to last resort antibiotics of a number of commonly found bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections. There are countries in many parts of the world where commonly used antibiotics are now ineffective in more than half of patients.
Key facts
- A number of commonly found bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections are now resistant to last resort antibiotics
- If drug resistant infections are not tackled now, they could kill an extra 10 million people worldwide each year by 2050
- Cancer chemotherapy, transplants and surgery all rely on the availability of effective antibiotics
- Preventing infections will play a major part in tackling antimicrobial resistance
- Most CCGs will have local infection management guidelines
- Cleaning hands properly is the single most important thing anyone can do to help reduce the spread of infections
- Vaccines can decrease the use of antibiotics directly by preventing the primary infection and indirectly by preventing bacterial superinfection after a primary vaccine-preventable disease
- Community pharmacists and their teams are well placed to provide effective advice for patients with self-limiting infections and to monitor antibiotic use