, revealed the fourth joint interagency antimicrobial consumption and resistance analysis report.
The report was published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the European Food Safety Authority, and the European Medicines Agency. Its findings were derived from an integrated analysis of the potential relationship between antimicrobial consumption (AMC) by humans and animals and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) using data collected between 2019 and 2021.
A Real Threat
AMR poses a significant threat to public and animal health, causing more than 35,000 deaths annually in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area. It also imposes a substantial economic burden on European healthcare systems, amounting to approximately €11.7 billion per year.
To address this challenge, the Council of the European Union recommended concerted and sustained efforts to achieve a 20% reduction in AMC in humans (compared with 2019 levels) and a 50% reduction in food-producing animals (compared with 2018 levels) by 2030. These targets are outlined in the European Commission’s Farm to Fork strategy.
It Really Works
Analysis of the trends of AMC and AMR in Escherichia coli from humans and food-producing animals, conducted for the first time, revealed that the susceptibility of E coli to antimicrobials in humans and animals increases with an overall decrease in the consumption of antibiotics.
Concurrent trends in AMC and AMR from 2014 to 2021 were also assessed. AMC in both human and animal sectors, measured in mg/kg of estimated biomass, was compared at country and European levels. In 2021, human AMC totaled 125.0 mg/kg of biomass, while food-producing animals registered 92.6 mg/kg of biomass.
Over the 2014-2021 period, total AMC in food-producing animals decreased by 44%, while in humans, it remained relatively stable. The consumption of certain antimicrobials was positively associated with resistance to those substances in bacteria from both humans and food-producing animals.
The report also highlighted that E coli resistance is linked in humans to the use of carbapenems, third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins, and quinolones and in food-producing animals to the administration of quinolones, polymyxins, aminopenicillins, and tetracyclines. Further, a connection exists between bacterial resistance in humans and food-producing animals, particularly for bacterial species such as Campylobacter jejuni and C coli.
The findings suggest that measures to reduce AMC in both food-producing animals and humans have been effective in many countries. However, reinforcing these measures is crucial to maintain and further advance reductions in AMC.
More Work
Aligned with the European Commission’s One Health holistic and coordinated approach to managing the human and veterinary sectors together, the European agencies advocate for:
- Sustained efforts to combat AMR at national, EU, and global levels.
- Coordinated surveillance of antibiotic use and AMR in both human and animal sectors.
- Continued research in the field of AMR.
The statistical code used to conduct these analyses was made publicly available in order to support further research analyses.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.