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Antimicrobial Resistance
Antimicrobial agents are essential drugs for human health, animal health and welfare. Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health concern that is impacted by both human and non-human antimicrobial usage and the resultant development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The continuing emergence of pathogenic organisms that are resistant to antimicrobials is a cause of increasing concern.
Introduction
Antimicrobial use in food animal production contributes to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in humans due to zoonotic pathogens, such as Salmonellosis and Campylobacteriosis. Many international bodies have identified monitoring of antimicrobial consumption in food animals as an indispensable prerequisite for the identification of risk factors for the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic bacteria and for the evaluation of public health interventions for their containment. Progress needs to be made in strengthening the monitoring of antimicrobial usage at national and international levels.
International interdisciplinary cooperation is essential; therefore since 1997, WHO, FAO and OIE have organized a number of consultations to address the issues related to the antimicrobial use at the different steps of the food-chain, the emergence of resistant pathogens and the associated human public health problems.
At is 48th session in 2001, the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission recommended that FAO, WHO and OIE should give consideration to host a meeting to consider all issues of non-human antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance. It was decided that the advice needed by Codex would include risk assessment issues as well as risk management implications. In accordance with Codex Risk analysis principles it was decided to separate the considerations in two workshops, i.e. a 1st workshop on scientific issues and a 2nd workshop on management options.
An important outcome of this consultative process was the establishment of a Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance, at the 29th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Geneva, Switzerland, 3-7 July 2006. The first meeting of which was held in October 2007 in Seoul , Republic of Korea. The report is available here.
EVENTS
First Meeting of the WHO Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR), 15-19 June 2009
Full information
Second session of the Codex ad hoc intergovernmental task force on antimicrobial resistance, 20-24 October 2008
Full information
Second session of the Codex ad hoc intergovernmental task force on antimicrobial resistance, 20-24 October 2008
Report [pdf 757kb]
Joint FAO/WHO/OIE Expert meeting on critically important antimicrobials, 26-30 November 2007
Report [pdf 339kb]
2nd WHO Expert meeting on Critically important antimicrobials for Human Medicine: Categorization for the Development of Risk Management Strategies to Contain Antimicrobial Resistance due to Non-Human Antimicrobial use, 29–31 May 2007
Report [pdf 450kb]
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SELECTED LINKS
WHO global principles for the containment of antimicrobial resistance in animals intended for food
Report [pdf 103kb]
Monitoring antimicrobial usage in food animals for the protection of human health, WHO consultation. Oslo, Norway, 10-13 Sept 2001
Report [pdf 73kb]
WHO international review panel's evaluation of the termination of the use of antimicrobial growth promoters in Denmark
Full information
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