EU Council Asks Member States to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
The Council of the European Union has issued a “One Health” perspective
document recognizing that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) “is accelerated by
excessive and inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents” and asking member
states to “develop and implement national strategies or action plans for
countering AMR.” According to the perspective document, which underlined
the need for “an active holistic approach” to combating AMR, “some practices
in human and in animal healthcare including the possible incentives deriving
from the prescription and subsequent sale of antimicrobial agents may lead
to inappropriate use and overuse of antimicrobial agents.” In particular, the
Council has advocated restrictions on both the human and veterinary use of
critically important microbials (CIAs) and newly developed microbials “with
the aim in the future to reserve CIAs as much as possible for human use.”
To this end, the Council has requested that member states curb the prophylactic
use of all antimicrobials while limiting CIAs to cases “where no other
type of antibiotics will be effective.” It has also recommended, among other
things, that member states (i) implement national guidelines “on the treatment
of humans and animals with antimicrobial agents”; (ii) crack down on
illegal sales of antimicrobials, “including illegal sales over the Internet”; (iii)
limit the use of antimicrobials in the herd treatment of animals to cases where
a veterinarian has assessed that there is a clear clinical justification to treat all
animals; and (iv) collect data on the “sale and use of antimicrobials in animals.”
Meanwhile, the Council has urged the European Commission to not only cooperate with member states on these goals but to expand the existing food and veterinary working group on AMR and to implement several “concrete initiatives” designed to address the use of antibiotic veterinary products such as medicated feed. “AMR is a growing European and global health problem in both humans and animals, leading to limited or poor options for treatment whilst diminishing the quality of life and to important economic consequences in terms of augmenting healthcare costs and productivity losses,” stressed the Council, which has called for international cooperation, additional surveillance and increased public awareness as to “the importance of effective preventive and hygienic measures” to reduce the overall need for antibiotics.
