EPI-Net’s Latest Scientific Publications

An educational tool to limit the spread of AMR

International travel has been recognized as a risk factor contributing to the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). However, tools focused on AMR in the context of international travel and designed to guide decision-making are limited. No traveller-based clinical algorithms exist to support healthcare professionals’ decision-making in terms of strategies to be adopted in the daily clinical practice when dealing with individuals returning from travel.

With the purpose of retrieving and displaying data specifically focusing on AMR and international travel, a multi-pronged review of the literature was conducted, covering four key areas including: I) AMR surveillance, II) antimicrobial resistant bacteria carriage in returned international travellers; III) infection prevention and control guidance documents; IV) practical recommendations for pre-travel preparation targeting travellers.

The collected evidence set the groundwork to build the framework of the ‘AMR travel tool’, an ad hoc, evidence-based, dynamic tool designed for both healthcare professionals and international travellers.

• The antimicrobial resistance travel tool, an interactive evidence-based educational tool to limit antimicrobial resistance spread
• Visit the AMR travel tool
• Description of the tool

Surveillance of antifungal resistance in Candida fails to inform antimicrobial stewardship

The increasing burden of candidemia and the emergence of antifungal resistance, especially among non‐Candida albicans strains, represent a new threat for public health.

Emerging literature underlines the correlation between antifungal consumption and development of resistance, an issue especially for vulnerable patients.  In 2020, the first meeting of the WHO expert Group on Identifying Priority Fungal Pathogens was held to finalize the development of a priority list of fungal pathogens of public health importance and to define related R&D priorities.

A systematic review from EPI-Net underlines the heterogeneity in species surveyed, as well as case definitions, antifungals monitoring, and the microbiological methodology adopted for data collection and modalities of reporting. The review shows that surveillance of antifungal resistance in Candida spp blood‐isolates is fragmented and the quality of data poor, delaying the application of a translational approach to the threat of antifungal resistance and the identification of proper targets for antifungal stewardship activities.

Read the open access article here.

For more information about antifungal resistance in candidemia from European surveillance systems, please visit the EPI-Net data repository.