Abstract
Nearly a century after the beginning of the antibiotic era, which has been associated with unparalleled improvements in human health and reductions in mortality associated with infection, the dwindling pipeline for new antibiotic classes coupled with the inevitable spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major global challenge. Historically, surveillance of bacteria with AMR typically relied on phenotypic analysis of isolates taken from infected individuals, which provides only a low-resolution view of the epidemiology behind an individual infection or wider outbreak. Recent years have seen increasing adoption of powerful new genomic technologies with the potential to revolutionise AMR surveillance by providing a high-resolution picture of the AMR profile of the bacteria causing infections and providing real-time actionable information for treating and preventing infection. However, many barriers remain to be overcome before genomic technologies can be adopted as a standard part of routine AMR surveillance around the world. Accordingly, the Surveillance and Epidemiology of Drug-resistant Infections Consortium convened an expert working group to assess the benefits and challenges of using genomics for AMR surveillance. In this Series, we detail these discussions and provide recommendations from the working group that can help to realise the massive potential benefits for genomics in surveillance of AMR.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | e1035-e1039 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | The Lancet Microbe |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| Early online date | 14 Nov 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgments:This research was funded by the Wellcome Trust. The funding source had no role in study or workshop design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing of the paper, or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. Developmental editing support for this work was provided by Germinate Science Consulting. For the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Food and Drug Administration authors, the findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the US Food and Drug Administration. KSB and LCEM are affiliated to the National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections at the University of Liverpool in partnership with the UKHSA, in collaboration with the University of Warwick. EJ is an Imperial College Research Fellow, funded by Rosetrees Trust and the Stoneygate Trust. EJ and JR are affiliated with the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance at Imperial College London in partnership with the UKHSA (formerly Public Health England), in collaboration with Imperial Healthcare Partners, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Warwick. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, the National Institute of Health and Care Research, the Department of Health and Social Care, or the UKHSA.
