Summary
Volume Two of the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies’s first annual epidemiology and surveillance report offers a comprehensive overview of the threat of antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases. Volume One appeared late last year.
Reference
Fergus Walsh (2013). Antibiotics resistance ‘as big a risk as terrorism’ – medical chief. London: BBC Health News, March 11th 2013.
Recommendations
Seventeen recommendations are made in the report, including:
- Antimicrobial resistance should be put on the national risk register and taken very seriously by politicians internationally, such as at the G8 and World Health Organization.
- Better surveillance data is required across the NHS and world-wide.
- The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries should work to preserve the efficacy of existing drugs and encourage the development of new antibiotics to fill the “discovery void” of the last 20 years.
- MRSA rates have fallen by 80% since 2003 through better hygiene. Similar approaches should be used when treating the next generation of healthcare associated infections, such as newer strains of harder-to-treat klebsiella.
One section of particular relevance to readers of this information service will be Chapter 10. Life stage: Older adult.
Read more: Antimicrobial resistance poses ‘catastrophic threat’, says Chief Medical Officer. Media Centre.
Reference
Antimicrobial resistance poses ‘catastrophic threat’, says Chief Medical Officer. London: Department of Health, March 11th 2013.
This relates to:
Reference
Professor Dame Sally Davies (2013). Annual report of the Chief Medical Officer: Volume Two, 2011. Infections and the rise of antimicrobial resistance. London: Department of Health, March 2013.
See also the NHS Choices analysis / review:
Reference
Superbug threat is ‘ticking time bomb’. London: NHS Choices; Behind the Headlines, March 11th 2013.
[A brief reference to this item features in Dementia and Elderly Care: the Latest Evidence Newsletter (RWNHST), Volume 3 Issue 7, May 2013].
