The WHO has published the first data collected by the Global Antimicrobial Surveillance System (GLASS ). High levels of antibiotic resistance have been recorded across a number of serious bacterial infections in both high- and low-income countries.

According to GLASS data, approximately 500,000 people in 22 countries have been diagnosed with antibiotic-resistant infections. The most common resistant pathogens are Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus , and Streptococcus pneumoniae , followed by Salmonella spp. Information on the causative agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is published in another annual WHO report: the "Global Tuberculosis Report."

Among patients with suspected bloodstream infection, resistance to at least one of the most widely used antibiotics varies widely across countries, from zero to 82%.

Resistance to penicillin, widely used to treat pneumonia, ranged from zero to 51% among countries included in the report.

Resistance to ciprofloxacin in the treatment of urinary tract infections caused by E. coli ranges from 8% to 65%.

"... The greatest concern is that pathogens do not respect national borders. Therefore, WHO calls on all countries to establish effective surveillance systems to detect drug resistance and share the data obtained with the global system ," says Dr. Mark Sprenger, Director of the WHO Department of Antimicrobial Resistance.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stressed his commitment to making antimicrobial resistance a top priority for WHO.

The WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System currently includes 52 countries (25 high-income, 20 middle-income, and 7 low-income countries). For the first report, 40 countries provided information on their national surveillance systems, and 22 countries also shared data on antibiotic resistance levels.

The GLASS surveillance system is just beginning to develop. The data from the first GLASS report is uneven in terms of quality and completeness. Some countries face significant challenges in establishing national surveillance systems due to shortages of personnel, funds, infrastructure, and other factors.

GLASS helps standardize countries' data collection approaches and provides a more comprehensive picture of the structure and trends of antibiotic resistance. The WHO is also working to help countries develop national antimicrobial resistance surveillance systems.

Any country, at any stage of development of its national antimicrobial resistance surveillance system, can join GLASS. All GLASS data is free, accessible online, and will be updated regularly.

Ukraine is not currently a member of GLASS.

Source: WHO News Centre