One Health antimicrobial use and AMR report published

The Ireland – One Health Report on Antimicrobial Use and Antimicrobial Resistance was published by the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine earlier today (Thursday, January 31).

This report provides for the first time a snapshot of the antimicrobial use (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in both humans and food-producing animals in Ireland.

The World Health Organisation defines antimicrobial resistance as the resistance of a micro-organism to an antimicrobial drug that was originally effective for treatment of infections caused by it.

Antimicrobial resistance or AMR is a global threat and an urgent challenge, posing a significant risk to human health.

The Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have adopted the ‘One Health’ approach to AMR and to encourage multidisciplinary collaborative efforts across different sectors such as health, agriculture and the environment to achieve the best health outcomes for people and animals.

Today’s report is part of Ireland’s National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2017 – 2020, published in October 2017.

The new report shows that data in Ireland on AMU for humans and food-producing animals is improving all the time.

However, gaps remain in the information available, including:

Although data for approximately 90% of acute hospital and 95% of public-prescription antimicrobial use is available, there is no data for available for private-prescription antimicrobial use;
Surveillance of human AMR reflects invasive infections only – blood stream infections – in acute settings – and not on other infections, such as urinary tract infections and wound infections, outside of the acute setting;
Currently information from national surveillance of AMU does not include information on the appropriateness of the antimicrobials used in either sector;
There is no specific surveillance for AMR in imported food products;
There is also no systematic surveillance for AMR in the environment.

It is important to note that progress is being made in tackling several of these, according to the report.

In addressing these deficits Ireland’s ability to respond to both the current and any future threats will be enhanced, as will support improvements in antimicrobial stewardship by providing better evidence for use in decision making, according to the departments.

Future publications of this joint annual report on AMU and AMR will provide the foundation to progressively address the deficits in our knowledge and continue to highlight our collective One Health efforts to tackle this major societal challenge in Ireland.

The report was produced by a subgroup of the National Interdepartmental AMR Consultative Committee which is jointly chaired and hosted by: the Department of Health’s chief medical officer, Dr. Tony Holohan; and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s chief veterinary officer, Dr. Martin Blake.

Both chairs welcomed the One Health report and acknowledged the work of the subgroup and that this is a “significant step forward in surveillance of AMR and AMU for Ireland as a country”.

Commenting on the report, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed said: “This timely report brings together data from both sectors to inform future policy decisions as to how best address the development and spread of AMR.”

Minister for Health Simon Harris added: “We know that the emergence of AMR worldwide is a real and growing public health crisis and we are likely approaching a tipping point if antibiotic resistance continues unchecked.

“This report should be used as a foundation to enhance surveillance and evidence in tackling this global problem.“