EFSA and ECDC Issue Report on Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) have issued their third joint report “on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic bacteria affecting humans, animals and foods.” Based on data collected by member states in 2011, the report notes the “continued presence of resistance to a range of antimicrobials in Salmonella and Campylobacter, the main bacteria causing food-borne infections in the European Union (EU),” although co-resistance to more than one critically important antimicrobial remains low overall.

According to the findings, “a high proportion of Campylobacter bacteria … was resistant to the critically important antimicrobial ciprofloxacin” in addition to other commonly used antimicrobials. The data also suggested that Salmonella resistance “to at least three different antimicrobial classes[] was high overall in the EU,” with a large proportion of the bacteria in humans and animals already resistant to commonly used antimicrobials and, in the case of poultry, to ciprofloxacin. “If we do not want to lose a number of antimicrobials which today provide an effective treatment against bacterial infections in humans, then joint efforts in the EU, including the Member States, healthcare professionals, industry, farmers and many others are needed,” said EFSA Director of Risk Assessment and Scientific Assistance Bernhard Url in a May 16, 2013, press release.