Question

 What is "antimicrobial resistance" and what are its drivers? What measures could countries take to reduce the development of resistance?

Answer 1

Ans) Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication that once could successfully treat the microbe. The term antibiotic resistance is a subset of AMR, as it applies only to bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.

- The global spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) between air, water, soil, and food is now well documented, while the factors that affect ARB and ARG dissemination (e.g., water and air quality, antibiotic fluxes, urbanization, sanitation practices) in these and other environmental matrices are just now beginning to be more fully appreciated. In this Account, we discuss how the global perpetuation of resistance is dictated by highly interconnected socioeconomic risk factors and illustrate that development status should be more fully considered when developing global strategies to address AMR.

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WHO strongly recommends that governments focus control and prevention efforts in four main areas:

• surveillance for antimicrobial resistance;
• rational antibiotic use, including education of healthcare workers and the public in the appropriate use of antibiotics;
• introducing or enforcing legislation related to stopping the selling of antibiotics without prescription; and
• strict adherence to infection prevention and control measures, including the use of hand-washing measures, particularly in healthcare facilities.
- Successful control of multidrug-resistant microorganisms has been documented in many countries, and the existing and well-known infection prevention and control measures can effectively reduce transmission of multi-drug resistant organisms if rigorously and systematically implemented.

- WHO will continue to support countries to develop relevant policies, and to coordinate international efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance will be the theme of WHO's World Health Day 2011.