Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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Antimicrobial resistance in animals in England and Wales: Publication of a revised strategy for a programme of surveillance and progress in meeting the strategy since 2004
The Government today published a revision to its strategy for developing a comprehensive surveillance programme for antimicrobial resistance occurring in animals for England and Wales. Antimicrobials are chemicals such as antibiotics used in veterinary and human medicine. It has also published a document detailing the successes and outputs to meet the seven objectives of the strategy since 2004.
Welcoming the publication, Lord Rooker, Defra Minister for Sustainable Food, Farming and Animal Health said:
"Revision of this strategy underlines the importance that the Government places on obtaining all the information necessary to enable us to tackle the development of antimicrobial resistance effectively and share up to date information with stakeholders."
The emergence of antimicrobial resistance as a serious problem in human and veterinary medicine has led to increasing concern about the use of antibiotics in human medicine, veterinary medicine, animal production, agriculture and horticulture.
The revised Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Strategy outlines a programme of work that will further the Government's knowledge about the mechanisms and transfer of antimicrobial resistance, and detecting the emergence and spread of resistant clones. The strategy also outlines requirements for further research. This programme addresses issues identified by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in its 1999 report on antimicrobial resistance.
Notes for Editors
1. The key elements of the Government's strategy to reduce the development of antimicrobial resistance in farm animals are:
- surveillance to determine the prevalence of resistant organisms in the animal population;
- development of guidelines to encourage the prudent use of antimicrobials;
- promote the development of livestock management systems that reduce the use of antimicrobials;
- reviewing the dosage regimes for authorised products and contributing to the development of European guidelines to ensure that regimes to delay the development of resistance are put in place for new products;
- identifying research priorities and commissioning research projects to get a better understanding of resistance;
- ensuring that veterinary education (undergraduate and continuous professional development) reflects the importance of the issue; and
- promoting public awareness of issues relating to the use of antimicrobials in animals.
2. The revised Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Strategy reflects the key elements of the Government Strategy to reduce the level of antimicrobials in food animals and key recommendations made in the ACMSF Report on antimicrobial resistance. It identifies current and proposed veterinary surveillance activities for antimicrobial resistance, who is able to undertake the work, the status of the programmes of work and how work might be achieved. It will be kept under review and will develop with time to include new and emerging information and scientific knowledge as it becomes available.
3. The successes and outputs document, prepared as an evaluation of the success of the strategy, details the raft of positive work undertaken by the Government to meet the seven objectives of the surveillance strategy.
4. A copy of the revised Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Strategy can be obtained from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate's website at http://www.vmd.gov.uk.
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