Dear All:
The United Kingdom Science and Innovation Network (UK-SIN), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC), and the Wellcome Trust (WT) have recently released a white paper highlighting the potential for the environment (e.g., soil and water) to be a source of antimicrobial-resistant microbes that can affect human health:
- Executive Summary: Initiatives for Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment: Executive Summary (pdf)
- Full report: Initiatives for Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment: Current Situation and Challenges (pdf)
The reports are the output of a co-hosted International Environmental AMR Forum which included international technical experts, government officials, and other key stakeholders. It considers the impact on development and spread of AMR from:
- Human and animal waste
- Pharmaceutical manufacturing waste
- Use of antimicrobial pesticides for crops
Broadly, the report concludes that despite knowledge gaps (and, there are always knowledge gaps!), there is enough evidence to support action now. Specific ideas include
- Better handling of both hospital and general human waste
- Reducing use of antimicrobials in food animal production
- Agreement on discharge limits for manufacturing
- Transparency on, and better management of, pesticide use in agriculture
Relevant to this community, the 100+ member AMR Industry Alliance is already specifically engaged in developing a responsible manufacturing framework. The 2018 report has a lengthy discussion (page 73 et seq.) on Industry actions in this arena and notes that “Roadmap signatories are committed to
- reviewing their manufacturing and supply chains;
- establishing a common framework for managing antibiotic discharge and working with stakeholders to develop a practical mechanism for demonstrating supply chains meet these standards; and
- establishing science-driven, risk-based targets for discharge concentrations and good practice methods to reduce environmental impact of manufacturing discharges by 2020.”
All to the good!
And, all best wishes for the upcoming festive season! –jr
John H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Expert-in-Residence, Wellcome Trust. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://13.43.35.2/blog/
Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:
- 15 Jan 2018 (London): BSAC’s Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference 2019: “An ABC for everyone involved in developing new antimicrobials.” Details here.
- 29 Jan 2018 (REVIVE webinar): “Clinical development for non-developers Part 3:
Antibacterial Drug Enhancer Combinations and Non-traditional Products.” Register here. - 4-5 Feb 2019 (London): Hamied Foundation UK-India Antimicrobial Resistance Meeting 2019. This is a 2-day meeting focused on building research links between the UK and India with the specific aim of jointly addressing the challenge of AMR. Register here.
- 14-15 Mar 2019 (Berlin): BEAM-, CARB-X-, and ND4BB-ENABLE-sponsored Berlin Conference on Novel Antimicrobials and AMR Diagnostics. Details here.
- 21-22 Mar 2019 (Birmingham, UK): BSAC Spring Conference.
- 26 Mar 2019 (London, UK): Sponsored by The Economist, a 1-day symposium entitled “Antimicrobial Resistance: Preventing an antibiotic apocalypse.” Register here.
- 13-16 Apr 2019 (Amsterdam): Annual ECCMID meeting.
- 24-26 Apr 2019 (Boston): Annual SHEA (Soc. for Hospital Epidemiology of America) Spring meeting
- 6-11 May 2019 (Ljubljana, Slovenia): 37th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID). Details here.
- 3-6 Jun 2019 (Philadelphia): Annual BIO meeting
- 20-24 June 2019 (San Francisco): Annual ASM Microbe meeting.
- [Mark your calendar now!] 3-6 Sep 2019 (Boston). Annual ASM-ESCMID Conference on Antibiotic Development. The Bootcamp series will continue on 3 Sep with the main meeting on 4-6 Sep. Mark your calendar now and check back here for details.
- 6-8 Sep 2019 (Bilbao, Spain): 5th ESCMID conference on Vaccines. Check back here for details.
- 2-6 Oct 2018 (Washington, DC): IDSA’s annual IDWeek meeting.
- 19-27 Oct 2019 (Annecy, France): International Course on Antibiotics and Resistance (ICARe) – A soup-to-nuts intensive residential training program on all things AMR, especially R&D for new antibiotics. See this link for details.
