Search

In 2013, a Lancet Infectious Diseases Commission described the state of antimicrobial resistance worldwide. Since then, greater awareness of the public health ramifications of antimicrobial resistance has led to national actions and global initiatives, including a resolution at the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly in 2016. Progress in addressing this issue has ranged from a ban on irrational drug combinations in India to commitments to ban colistin as a growth promoter in animals, improve hospital infection control, and implement better antimicrobial stewardship. Funds have been mobilised, and regulatory barriers to new antibiotic development have been relaxed. These efforts have been episodic and uneven across countries, however. Sustained funding for antimicrobial resistance and globally harmonised targets to monitor progress are still urgently needed. Except for in a few leading countries, antimicrobial resistance has not captured the sustained focus of national leaders and country-level actors, including care providers.

Objectives: Optimal treatment of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (CR-GNB) infections is uncertain because of the lack of good-quality evidence and the limited effectiveness of available antibiotics. The aim of this survey was to investigate clinicians' prescribing strategies for treating CR-GNB infections worldwide. Methods: A 36-item questionnaire was developed addressing the following aspects of antibiotic prescribing: respondent's background, diagnostic and therapeutic availability, preferred antibiotic strategies and rationale for selecting combination therapy. Prescribers were recruited following the snowball sampling approach, and a post-stratification correction with inverse proportional weights was used to adjust the sample's representativeness. Results: A total of 1012 respondents from 95 countries participated in the survey. Overall, 298 (30%) of the respondents had local guidelines for treating CR-GNB at their facility and 702 (71%) had access to Infectious Diseases consultation, with significant discrepancies according to country economic status: 85% (390/502) in high-income countries versus 59% (194/283) in upper-medium-income countries and 30% (118/196) in lower-middle-income countries/lower-income-countries). Targeted regimens varied widely, ranging from 40 regimens for CR-Acinetobacter spp. to more than 100 regimens for CR-Enterobacteriaceae. Although the majority of respondents acknowledged the lack of evidence behind this choice, dual combination was the preferred treatment scheme and carbapenem-polymyxin was the most prescribed regimen, irrespective of pathogen and infection source. Respondents noticeably disagreed around the meaning of ‘combination therapy’ with 20% (150/783) indicating the simple addition of multiple compounds, 42% (321/783) requiring the presence of in vitro activity and 38% (290/783) requiring in vitro synergism. Conclusions: Management of CR-GNB infections is far from being standardized. Strategic public health focused randomized controlled trials are urgently required to inform evidence-based treatment guidelines.

Additional material: Online Supplementary Document available at http://jogh.org/documents/2021/jogh-11-05011-s001.pdf . Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Background: Variation in the approaches taken to contain the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic at country level has been shaped by economic and political considerations, technical capacity, and assumptions about public behaviours. To address the limited application of learning from previous pandemics, this study aimed to analyse perceived facilitators and inhibitors during the pandemic and to inform the development of an assessment tool for pandemic response planning. Methods A cross-sectional electronic survey of health and non-health care professionals (5 May - 5 June 2020) in six languages, with respondents recruited via email, social media and website posting. Participants were asked to score inhibitors (−10 to 0) or facilitators (0 to +10) impacting country response to COVID-19 from the following domains - Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Ecological, Legislative, and wider Industry (the PESTELI framework). Participants were then asked to explain their responses using free text. Descriptive and thematic analysis was followed by triangulation with the literature and expert validation to develop the assessment tool, which was then compared with four existing pandemic planning frameworks. Results 928 respondents from 66 countries (57% health care professionals) participated. Political and economic influences were consistently perceived as powerful negative forces and technology as a facilitator across high- and low-income countries. The 103-item tool developed for guiding rapid situational assessment for pandemic planning is comprehensive when compared to existing tools and highlights the interconnectedness of the 7 domains. Conclusions The tool developed and proposed addresses the problems associated with decision making in disciplinary silos and offers a means to refine future use of epidemic modelling. This study did not receive any external funding.

Background Point prevalence surveys (PPSs) on antibiotic use are useful for understanding different aspects related to prescription patterns in hospitals. Methods An adaptation of the WHO methodology for a PPS on antibiotic use was applied. Hospital wards were divided into medical (MED), surgical (SUR), ICUs, gynaecology and obstetrics (GO), high-risk (HR) and mixed wards (MIX). A web application (RedCap©) through a mobile device was used for data collection. Results Between December 2018 and August 2019, 5444 patients in 33 hospitals in five countries were included (10 hospitals in Cuba, 7 in Paraguay, 6 in El Salvador, 5 in Mexico and 5 in Peru). Of these patients, 54.6% received at least one antibiotic, with variations between and within hospitals and countries. Antibiotics were more frequently used in ICUs (67.2%), SUR (64.5%) and MED wards (54.2%), with 51.2% of antibiotics prescribed for community-acquired infections (CAIs), 22.9% for healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), 11.1% for surgical prophylaxis and 6.1% for unknown reasons. Adherence to guidelines was observed in 68.6% of cases (72.8% for CAIs, 72.4% for HAIs and 44.3% for prophylaxis). Third-generation cephalosporins were the class of antibiotics most frequently used (26.8%), followed by carbapenems (10.3%) and fluoroquinolones (8%). Targeted treatments were achieved in 17.3% of cases. Conclusions Antibiotic use was generally higher than that published in other studies. There is an urgent need to promote and strengthen the antimicrobial stewardship programmes in Latin America.

BackgroundHealthcare professionals are increasingly expected to lead antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) initiatives. This role in complex healthcare environments requires specialized training.ObjectivesLittle is known about the types of AMS training programmes available to clinicians seeking to play a lead role in AMS. We aimed to identify clinicians’ awareness of AMS training programmes, characteristics of AMS training programmes available and potential barriers to participation.MethodsAMS training programmes available were identified by members of the ESCMID Study Group for Antimicrobial Stewardship (ESGAP) via an online survey and through an online search in 2018. Individual training programme course coordinators were then contacted (September–October 2018) for data on the target audience(s), methods of delivery, intended outcomes and potential barriers to accessing the training programme.ResultsA total of 166/250 ESGAP members (66%) responded to the survey, nominating 48 unique AMS training programmes. An additional 32 training programmes were identified through an online search. AMS training programmes were from around the world. Less than half (44.4%) of respondents were aware of one or more AMS training programmes available, with pharmacists more aware compared with medical doctors and other professionals (73% versus 46% and 25%, respectively). AMS training programmes were most commonly delivered online (59%) and aimed at medical doctors (46%). Training costs and a lack of recognition by health professional societies were the most frequently cited barriers to participation in AMS training programmes.ConclusionsThe development of a systematic inventory of AMS training programmes around the globe identifies opportunities and limitations to current training available. Improving access and increasing awareness amongst target participants will support improved education in AMS.

Background Inappropriate antibiotic use represents a major global threat. Sepsis and bacterial lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) have been linked to antimicrobial resistance, carrying important consequences for patients and health systems. Procalcitonin-guided algorithms may represent helpful tools to reduce antibiotic overuse but the financial burden is unclear. The aim of this study was to estimate the healthcare and budget impact in Argentina of using procalcitonin-guided algorithms to guide antibiotic prescription. Methods A decision tree was used to model health and cost outcomes for the Argentinean health system, over a one-year duration. Patients with suspected sepsis in the intensive care unit and hospitalized patients with LRTI were included. Model parameters were obtained from a focused, non-systematic, local and international bibliographic search, and validated by a panel of local experts. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to analyze the uncertainty of parameters. Results The model predicted that using procalcitonin-guided algorithms would result in 734.5 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1,105.2;438.8] thousand fewer antibiotic treatment days, 7.9 [95% CI: 18.5;8.5] thousand antibiotic-resistant cases avoided, and 5.1 [95% CI: 6.7;4.2] thousand fewer Clostridioides difficile cases. In total, this would save $422.4 US dollars (USD) [95% CI: $935;$267] per patient per year, meaning cost savings of $83.0 [95% CI: $183.6;$57.7] million USD for the entire health system and $0.4 [95% CI: $0.9;$0.3] million USD for a healthcare provider with 1,000 cases per year of sepsis and LRTI patients. The sensitivity analysis showed that the probability of cost-saving for the sepsis patient group was lower than for the LRTI patient group (85% vs. 100%). Conclusions Healthcare and financial benefits can be obtained by implementing procalcitonin-guided algorithms in Argentina. Although we found results to be robust on an aggregate level, some caution must be used when focusing only on sepsis patients in the intensive care unit.

Objectives/Purpose The costs attributable to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remain theoretical and largely unspecified. Current figures fail to capture the full health and economic burden caused by AMR across human, animal, and environmental health; historically many studies have considered only direct costs associated with human infection from a hospital perspective, primarily from high-income countries. The Global Antimicrobial Resistance Platform for ONE-Burden Estimates (GAP-ON€) network has developed a framework to help guide AMR costing exercises in any part of the world as a first step towards more comprehensive analyses for comparing AMR interventions at the local level as well as more harmonized analyses for quantifying the full economic burden attributable to AMR at the global level.Methods GAP-ON€ (funded under the JPIAMR 8th call (Virtual Research Institute) is composed of 19 international networks and institutions active in the field of AMR. For this project, the Network operated by means of Delphi rounds, teleconferences and face-to-face meetings. The resulting costing framework takes a bottom-up approach to incorporate all relevant costs imposed by an AMR bacterial microbe in a patient, in an animal, or in the environment up through to the societal level. Results The framework itemizes the epidemiological data as well as the direct and indirect cost components needed to build a realistic cost picture for AMR. While the framework lists a large number of relevant pathogens for which this framework could be used to explore the costs, the framework is sufficiently generic to facilitate the costing of other resistant pathogens, including those of other aetiologies. Conclusion In order to conduct cost-effectiveness analyses to choose amongst different AMR-related interventions at local level, the costing of AMR should be done according to local epidemiological priorities and local health service norms. Yet the use of a common framework across settings allows for the results of such studies to contribute to cumulative estimates that can serve as the basis of broader policy decisions at the international level such as how to steer R&D funding and how to prioritize AMR amongst other issues. Indeed, it is only by building a realistic cost picture that we can make informed decisions on how best to tackle major health threats.

Introduction: Carbapenemases are β-lactamases able to hydrolyze a wide range of β-lactam antibiotics, including carbapenems. Carbapenemase production in Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter spp., with and without the co-expression of other β-lactamases is a serious public health threat. Carbapenemases belong to three main classes according to the Ambler classification: class A, class B, and class D. Areas covered: Carbapenemase-bearing pathogens are endemic in Latin America. In this review, we update the status of carbapenemases in Latin America and the Caribbean. Expert opinion: Understanding the current epidemiology of carbapenemases in Latin America and the Caribbean is of critical importance to improve infection control policies limiting the dissemination of multi-drug-resistant pathogens and in implementing appropriate antimicrobial therapy.

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is a set of coordinated strategies to improve the use of antimicrobials, to enhance patient outcomes, reduce antimicrobial resistance, and decrease unnecessary costs. The pioneer years of AMS were restricted to high-income countries (HIC), where overconsumption of antibiotics was associated with emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. AMS in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) is also necessary. However, programs effective in HIC may not perform as well in LMIC, because (i) While decreased consumption of antibiotics may be an appropriate target in overconsuming HIC, this may be dangerous in LMIC, where many patients die from the lack of access to antibiotics; (ii) although AMS programs in HIC can be designed and monitored through laboratory surveillance of resistance, surveillance programs are not available in many LMIC; (iii) the heterogeneity of health care systems implies that AMS programs must be carefully contextualized. Despite the need to individually tailor AMS programs in LMIC, international collaborations remain highly valuable, through the dissemination of high-quality documents and educational material, that may be shared, adapted where needed, and adopted worldwide. This process, facilitated by modern communication tools, combines many benefits, including: (i) saving time, a precious dimension for health care workers, by avoiding the duplication of similar works in different settings; (ii) taking advantage of colleagues skills, and initiatives, through open access to the work performed in other parts of the world; (iii) sharing experiences, so that we all learn from each others' successes and failures.

Objectives/PurposeThe costs attributable to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across human, animal, and environmental health remain theoretical and largely unspecified. Current figures fail to capture the full health and economic burden caused by AMR; historically many studies have considered only direct costs associated with human infection from a hospital perspective, primarily from high-income countries. The Global Antimicrobial Resistance Platform for ONE-Burden Estimates (GAP-ON€) network aimed to develop a global, One Health AMR Cost Framework, that can be used by countries, regions, and other entities to quantify the economic burden attributable to AMR.MethodsGAP-ON€ (funded under the JPIAMR 8th call (Virtual Research Institute) is composed of 19 international networks and institutions active in the field of AMR. It operated by means of Delphi rounds, teleconferences (TCs) and face-to-face (F2F) meetings. It assumes a bottom-up cost estimate, at the National level, with a global scope across all One Health Areas.ResultsThe resulting framework consists of the epidemiological data and the direct and indirect cost components, linked by the likelihood of each AMR-related health state that imposes such costs, across all One Health Areas for a large number of relevant pathogens. It represents a first step towards more comprehensive analyses for comparing cost-effectiveness of AMR interventions at the local level as well as more harmonised analyses at the global level.ConclusionThis is the first full AMR costing framework to be developed for bacterial pathogens in human and animal health and the environment. It aims to provide guidance on the data items necessary to calculate AMR costs in a global, One Health perspective to facilitate harmonized, full economic analyses. It is only through building a realistic cost picture that we can make informed decisions about potential strategies and political priorities.

Background: Variation in the approaches taken to contain the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic at country level has been shaped by economic and political considerations, technical capacity, and assumptions about public behaviours. To address the limited application of learning from previous pandemics, this study aimed to analyse perceived facilitators and inhibitors during the pandemic and to inform the development of an assessment tool for pandemic response planning. Methods: A cross-sectional electronic survey of health and non-healthcare professionals (5 May - 5 June 2020) in six languages, with respondents recruited via email, social media and website posting. Participants were asked to score inhibitors (-10 to 0) or facilitators (0 to +10) impacting country response to COVID-19 from the following domains – Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Ecological, Legislative, and wider Industry (the PESTELI framework). Participants were then asked to explain their responses using free text. Descriptive and thematic analysis was followed by triangulation with the literature and expert validation to develop the assessment tool, which was then compared with four existing pandemic planning frameworks. Findings: 928 respondents from 66 countries (57% healthcare professionals) participated. Political and economic influences were consistently perceived as powerful negative forces and technology as a facilitator across high- and low-income countries. The 103-item tool developed for guiding rapid situational assessment for pandemic planning is comprehensive when compared to existing tools and highlights the interconnectedness of the 7 domains. Interpretation: The tool developed and proposed addresses the problems associated with decision making in disciplinary silos and offers a means to refine future use of epidemic modelling. Funding Statement: This study did not receive any external funding. Declaration of Interests: None to declare. Ethics Approval Statement: The study was approved by the Joint Research Compliance Office, Imperial College London (ICREC reference: 20IC5947).

International audience; Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is a set of coordinated strategies to improve the use of antimicrobials, to enhance patient outcomes, reduce antimicrobial resistance, and decrease unnecessary costs. The pioneer years of AMS were restricted to high-income countries (HIC), where overconsumption of antibiotics was associated with emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. AMS in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) is also necessary. However, programs effective in HIC may not perform as well in LMIC, because (i) While decreased consumption of antibiotics may be an appropriate target in overconsuming HIC, this may be dangerous in LMIC, where many patients die from the lack of access to antibiotics; (ii) although AMS programs in HIC can be designed and monitored through laboratory surveillance of resistance, surveillance programs are not available in many LMIC; (iii) the heterogeneity of health care systems implies that AMS programs must be carefully contextualized. Despite the need to individually tailor AMS programs in LMIC, international collaborations remain highly valuable, through the dissemination of high-quality documents and educational material, that may be shared, adapted where needed, and adopted worldwide. This process, facilitated by modern communication tools, combines many benefits, including: (i) saving time, a precious dimension for health care workers, by avoiding the duplication of similar works in different settings; (ii) taking advantage of colleagues skills, and initiatives, through open access to the work performed in other parts of the world; (iii) sharing experiences, so that we all learn from each others' successes and failures.

[Objectives/purpose] The costs attributable to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remain theoretical and largely unspecified. Current figures fail to capture the full health and economic burden caused by AMR across human, animal, and environmental health; historically many studies have considered only direct costs associated with human infection from a hospital perspective, primarily from high-income countries. The Global Antimicrobial Resistance Platform for ONE-Burden Estimates (GAP-ON€) network has developed a framework to help guide AMR costing exercises in any part of the world as a first step towards more comprehensive analyses for comparing AMR interventions at the local level as well as more harmonized analyses for quantifying the full economic burden attributable to AMR at the global level., [Methods] GAP-ON€ (funded under the JPIAMR 8th call (Virtual Research Institute) is composed of 19 international networks and institutions active in the field of AMR. For this project, the Network operated by means of Delphi rounds, teleconferences and face-to-face meetings. The resulting costing framework takes a bottom-up approach to incorporate all relevant costs imposed by an AMR bacterial microbe in a patient, in an animal, or in the environment up through to the societal level., [Results] The framework itemizes the epidemiological data as well as the direct and indirect cost components needed to build a realistic cost picture for AMR. While the framework lists a large number of relevant pathogens for which this framework could be used to explore the costs, the framework is sufficiently generic to facilitate the costing of other resistant pathogens, including those of other aetiologies., [Conclusion] In order to conduct cost-effectiveness analyses to choose amongst different AMR-related interventions at local level, the costing of AMR should be done according to local epidemiological priorities and local health service norms. Yet the use of a common framework across settings allows for the results of such studies to contribute to cumulative estimates that can serve as the basis of broader policy decisions at the international level such as how to steer R&D funding and how to prioritize AMR amongst other issues. Indeed, it is only by building a realistic cost picture that we can make informed decisions on how best to tackle major health threats., The creation of the GAP-ONE Network was supported under the framework of the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance and funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, within the JPIAMR 8th call, Virtual Research Initiative, 2018.

Objectives: With increasing global interest in hospital antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes, there is a strong demand for core elements of AMS to be clearly defined on the basis of principles of effectiveness and affordability. To date, efforts to identify such core elements have been limited to Europe, Australia, and North America. The aim of this study was to develop a set of core elements and their related checklist items for AMS programmes that should be present in all hospitals worldwide, regardless of resource availability. Methods: A literature review was performed by searching Medline and relevant websites to retrieve a list of core elements and items that could have global relevance. These core elements and items were evaluated by an international group of AMS experts using a structured modified Delphi consensus procedure, using two-phased online in-depth questionnaires. Results: The literature review identified seven core elements and their related 29 checklist items from 48 references. Fifteen experts from 13 countries in six continents participated in the consensus procedure. Ultimately, all seven core elements were retained, as well as 28 of the initial checklist items plus one that was newly suggested, all with >= 80% agreement; 20 elements and items were rephrased. Conclusions: This consensus on core elements for hospital AMS programmes is relevant to both high- and low-to-middle-income countries and could facilitate the development of national AMS stewardship guidelines and adoption by healthcare settings worldwide. (C) 2018 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unavailability of old antibiotics threatens effective treatment for common bacterial infections

Summary Background The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a substantial threat to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Due to its large public health and societal implications, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has been long regarded by WHO as a global priority for investment in new drugs. In 2016, WHO was requested by member states to create a priority list of other antibiotic-resistant bacteria to support research and development of effective drugs. Methods We used a multicriteria decision analysis method to prioritise antibiotic-resistant bacteria; this method involved the identification of relevant criteria to assess priority against which each antibiotic-resistant bacterium was rated. The final priority ranking of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria was established after a preference-based survey was used to obtain expert weighting of criteria. Findings We selected 20 bacterial species with 25 patterns of acquired resistance and ten criteria to assess priority: mortality, health-care burden, community burden, prevalence of resistance, 10-year trend of resistance, transmissibility, preventability in the community setting, preventability in the health-care setting, treatability, and pipeline. We stratified the priority list into three tiers (critical, high, and medium priority), using the 33rd percentile of the bacterium's total scores as the cutoff. Critical-priority bacteria included carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and carbapenem-resistant and third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. The highest ranked Gram-positive bacteria (high priority) were vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . Of the bacteria typically responsible for community-acquired infections, clarithromycin-resistant Helicobacter pylori , and fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter spp, Neisseria gonorrhoeae , and Salmonella typhi were included in the high-priority tier. Interpretation Future development strategies should focus on antibiotics that are active against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and Gram-negative bacteria. The global strategy should include antibiotic-resistant bacteria responsible for community-acquired infections such as Salmonella spp, Campylobacter spp, N gonorrhoeae , and H pylori . Funding World Health Organization.

Infections caused by multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli are increasingly challenging to manage in hospitals and long term-care facilities worldwide. As the therapeutic options are limited, the International Society of Chemotherapy in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology organised a consensus conference as part of the 13th Asia-Pacific Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infection. A panel of international experts from Europe, the Americas and Asia were convened to discuss the issues of therapeutic options for the management of these difficult-to-treat pathogens.

The prevalence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) has increased during the past 10 years. Its detection is frequently difficult, because they do not always show a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value for carbapenems in the resistance range. Both broth microdilution and agar dilution methods are more sensitive than disk diffusion method, Etest and automated systems. Studies on antimicrobial treatment are based on a limited number of patients; therefore, the optimal treatment is not well established. Combination therapy with two active drugs appears to be more effective than monotherapy. Combination of a carbapenem with another active agent--preferentially an aminoglycoside or colistin--could lower mortality provided that the MIC is ≤4 mg/l and probably ≤8 mg/l, and is administered in a higher-dose/prolonged-infusion regimen. An aggressive infection control and prevention strategy is recommended, including reinforcement of hand hygiene, using contact precautions and early detection of CPE through use of targeted surveillance.

La Sociedad Argentina de Infectología convocó a otras sociedades científicas para elaborar una guía práctica y actualizada para el manejo del tratamiento antibiótico de las bronquitis agudas (BA) y los episodios de reagudización de enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica (EPOC), con el objetivo de promover el uso racional de los recursos diagnósticos y terapéuticos. La BA se caracteriza por la inflamación del árbol bronquial que afecta tanto a adultos como a niños sin enfermedades pulmonares crónicas, siendo de origen viral en la mayoría de los casos. El diagnóstico es clínico, debiéndose diferenciar de los episodios de neumonía adquirida en la comunidad. El tratamiento de los episodios de BA es fundamentalmente sintomático. En huéspedes inmunocomprometidos, con enfermedades crónicas respiratorias o cardíacas y en adultos mayores con comorbilidades debe evaluarse el requerimiento de tratamiento antibiótico caso por caso. Se define como exacerbación de la EPOC al cambio agudo en la situación clínica basal del paciente más allá de la variabilidad diaria, que cursa con aumento de la disnea, aumento de la expectoración, expectoración purulenta, o cualquier combinación de estos tres síntomas, y que precisa un cambio terapéutico. La presencia de uno de estos síntomas se define como episodio leve, dos como moderado y tres como grave. En un 50 a 75% de las exacerbaciones de EPOC se aísla en el esputo un agente infeccioso. En los episodios moderados y graves debe iniciarse tratamiento antibiótico. Amoxicilina-inhibidor de betalactamasas, macrólidos y fluoroquinolonas se encuentran entre las opciones terapéuticas.

International audience; The Antibiotic Stewardship and Resistance Working Groups of the International Society for Chemotherapy propose ten key points for the appropriate use of antibiotics in hospital settings. (i) Get appropriate microbiological samples before antibiotic administration and carefully interpret the results: in the absence of clinical signs of infection, colonisation rarely requires antimicrobial treatment. (ii) Avoid the use of antibiotics to ‘treat’ fever: use them to treat infections, and investigate the root cause of fever prior to starting treatment. (iii) Start empirical antibiotic treatment after taking cultures, tailoring it to the site of infection, risk factors for multidrug-resistant bacteria, and the local microbiology and susceptibility patterns. (iv) Prescribe drugs at their optimal dosing and for an appropriate duration, adapted to each clinical situation and patient characteristics. (v) Use antibiotic combinations only where the current evidence suggests some benefit. (vi) When possible, avoid antibiotics with a higher likelihood of promoting drug resistance or hospital-acquired infections, or use them only as a last resort. (vii) Drain the infected foci quickly and remove all potentially or proven infected devices: control the infection source. (viii) Always try to de-escalate/streamline antibiotic treatment according to the clinical situation and the microbiological results. (ix) Stop unnecessarily prescribed antibiotics once the absence of infection is likely. And (x) Do not work alone: set up local teams with an infectious diseases specialist, clinical microbiologist, hospital pharmacist, infection control practitioner or hospital epidemiologist, and comply with hospital antibiotic policies and guidelines. © 2016

The causes of antibiotic resistance are complex and include human behaviour at many levels of society; the consequences affect everybody in the world. Similarities with climate change are evident. Many efforts have been made to describe the many different facets of antibiotic resistance and the interventions needed to meet the challenge. However, coordinated action is largely absent, especially at the political level, both nationally and internationally. Antibiotics paved the way for unprecedented medical and societal developments, and are today indispensible in all health systems. Achievements in modern medicine, such as major surgery, organ transplantation, treatment of preterm babies, and cancer chemotherapy, which we today take for granted, would not be possible without access to effective treatment for bacterial infections. Within just a few years, we might be faced with dire setbacks, medically, socially, and economically, unless real and unprecedented global coordinated actions are immediately taken. Here, we describe the global situation of antibiotic resistance, its major causes and consequences, and identify key areas in which action is urgently needed. volumen 13; número 12

The Argentine Society for Infectious Diseases and other national societies issued updated practical guidelines for the management of acute bronchitis (AB) and reactivations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with the aim of promoting rational use of diagnostic and therapeutic resources. AB is a condition characterized by inflammation of the bronchial airways which affects adults and children without underlying pulmonary disease. It is usually caused by a virus. The diagnosis is based on clinical findings after community acquired pneumonia has been ruled out. Treatment of AB is mainly symptomatic. Antibiotics should be used in immune-compromised hosts, patients with chronic respiratory or cardiac diseases and in the elderly with co-morbidities. Reactivation of COPD is defined as an acute change in the patient's baseline clinical situation beyond normal day to day variations, with an increase in dyspnea, sputum production and/or sputum purulence, warranting a change in medication. An increase in one symptom is considered a mild exacerbation, two as moderate, and the presence of three symptoms is considered a severe exacerbation. An infectious agent can be isolated in sputum in 50 to 75% of COPD reactivations. Moderate and severe episodes must be treated with antibiotics, amoxicillin/ beta-lactamase inhibitor, macrolides and fluoroquinolones are first choice drugs.

Polymyxins (polymyxin B and colistin) are older bactericidal antibiotics that are increasingly used to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria. However, dosing and clinical use of these drugs vary widely. This survey was undertaken to reveal how polymyxins are used worldwide. Data were collected through a structured online questionnaire consisting of 24 questions regarding colistin usage patterns and indications as well as colistin dosage for adult patients. The questionnaire was disseminated in 2011 to relevant experts worldwide and was completed by 284 respondents from 56 different countries. Respondents from 11/56 countries (20%) had no access to colistin; 58/284 respondents (20.4%) reported that in 2010 they experienced that colistin was not available when needed. Formulations of polymyxins used were reported as: colistimethate sodium (48.6%); colistin sulfate (14.1%); both (1.4%); polymyxin B (1.4%); and unknown. Intravenous formulations were used by 84.2%, aerosolised or nebulised colistin by 44.4% and oral colistin for selective gut decontamination by 12.7%. Common indications for intravenous colistin were ventilator-associated pneumonia, sepsis and catheter-related infections with MDR Gram-negative bacteria. Only 21.2% of respondents used a colistin-loading dose, mainly in Europe and North America. This survey reveals that the majority of respondents use colistin and a few use polymyxin B. The survey results show that colistin is commonly underdosed. Clear guidance is needed on indications, dosing and antibiotic combinations to improve clinical outcomes and delay the emergence of resistance. Colistin should be considered a last-resort drug and its use should be controlled. International guidelines are urgently needed. (C) 2013 International Society for Chemotherapy of Infection and Cancer.

The role of fluoroquinolones (FQs) as empirical therapy for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains controversial in countries with high tuberculosis (TB) endemicity owing to the possibility of delayed TB diagnosis and treatment and the emergence of FQ resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although the rates of macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid-resistant Haemophilus influenzae have risen to alarming levels, the rates of respiratory FQ (RFQ) resistance amongst these isolates remain relatively low. It is reported that ca. 1–7% of CAP cases are re-diagnosed as pulmonary TB in Asian countries. A longer duration (≥7 days) of symptoms, a history of night sweats, lack of fever (>38 °C), infection involving the upper lobe, presence of cavitary infiltrates, opacity in the lower lung without the presence of air, low total white blood cell count and the presence of lymphopenia are predictive of pulmonary TB. Amongst patients with CAP who reside in TB-endemic countries who are suspected of having TB, imaging studies as well as aggressive microbiological investigations need to be performed early on. Previous exposure to a FQ for >10 days in patients with TB is associated with the emergence of FQ-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates. However, rates of M. tuberculosis isolates with FQ resistance are significantly higher amongst multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates than amongst susceptible isolates. Consequently, in Taiwan and also in other countries with TB endemicity, a short-course (5-day) regimen of a RFQ is still recommended for empirical therapy for CAP patients if the patient is at low risk for TB.