Public Health England's report shows a rise in antibiotic resistant infections

Antibiotic resistant infections are on the rise

A report published this week by Public Health England has shown a substantial rise in antibiotic resistant infections over the past 5 years.

Dr Rachel Freeman, who obtained her PhD with the Centre for Infection Prevention and Management,  and Dr Susan Hopkins PHE theme lead within the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance have contributed to Public Health England’s (PHE) second report on the English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR).

This ESPAUR report focuses on trends in antibiotic prescribing/consumption and resistance from 2010 to 2014; highlights the progress in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) activities in primary and secondary care; and outlines professional and public facing activities that were undertaken in relation to antibiotic education and awareness.

Key findings from the report show that the incidence of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream infections increased from 2010 to 2014 by 15.6% and 20.8% respectively.  These increases in both incidence and antibiotic resistance means that the number of individuals with antibiotic-resistant infections has risen substantially in the last five years.

The report findings also show that General practice consumption increased by 6.2% but has returned to 2011 levels of antibiotic prescription items per population suggesting that the amount of antibiotic per course increased either by increasing the course length or increasing the dose per day. Whereas prescribing by dentists has decreased by 2.8%.

Since the launch of the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) strategy the ESPAUR programme has successfully achieved the following:

· established and improved surveillance data on antibiotic prescribing and AMR
· worked with NHS-England to develop and measure prescribing and improve data collection through the development of an Antimicrobial Prescribing Quality Premium · performed an assessment of AMS activities and implementation of national AMS toolkits in primary and secondary care
· launched and evaluated an ‘Antibiotic Guardian’ campaign to drive changes in public and professional behaviour around antibiotic use
· developed implementation options for the improved education and training of healthcare professionals
· collaborated with veterinary colleagues and public health organisations in the devolved administrations to publish an integrated UK-wide human and animal ‘One Health’ report on antibiotic use and resistance
· worked with university partners to answer key research questions