ECDC publish reports on antimicrobial resistance and consumption

On 18 November 2020, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published two new surveillance reports.

The antimicrobial resistance in the EU/EEA (EARS-NET) annual epidemiological report for 2019 is based on data reported for the period 2015 to 2019, retrieved from the European Surveillance System (TESSy) and ECDC’s decentralised data storage for antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infections (ARHAI) on 10 September 2020.

Thirty EU/EEA countries reported data for 2019 to the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net). Twenty-nine countries reported data for all eight bacterial species under surveillance, while one country reported data for all bacterial species except Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae). The most commonly reported bacterial species were: 

• Escherichia coli (44.2%) 
• Staphylococcus aureus (20.6%) 
• Klebsiella pneumoniae (11.3%) 
• Enterococcus faecalis (6.8%) 
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5.6%) 
• S. pneumoniae (5.3%) 
• Enterococcus faecium (4.5%) 
• Acinetobacter species (1.7%)

The ECDC has also published its antimicrobial consumption annual epidemiological report for 2019. This report finds the average total of the combined community and hospital sector consumption of antibacterials for systemic use in the EU/EEA was 19.4 defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 inhabitants, per day. During the period 2010 to 2019, a statistically significant decrease was observed for the EU/EEA overall. Statistically significant decreasing trends were observed for 13 countries, while statistically significant increasing trends were observed for four countries.

Sources: ECDC, 18 November 2020 and ECDC, 18 November 2020