Each year on 5 May, the “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” campaign takes place as part of a major global effort led by the World Health Organization to mobilise people around the world to increase adherence to hand hygiene in all healthcare settings, thus protecting healthcare workers and patients from healthcare-associated infections caused by various pathogens.
A sizeable proportion of Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria is still resistant to antibiotics commonly used in humans and animals, as in previous years, says a report released today by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
In 2018–2019, data on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic and indicator bacteria, submitted by 28 EU Member States (MSs), were jointly analysed by the EFSA and the ECDC.
This report provides an analysis of the external quality assessment (EQA) for the antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) performance of laboratories participating in the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) in 2019. A total of 952 laboratories (1–95 per country) from 30 EU/EEA countries participated in the EQA exercise.
Data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in zoonotic and indicator bacteria from humans, animals and
food are collected annually by the EU Member States (MSs), jointly analysed by EFSA and ECDC and
reported in a yearly EU Summary Report.