Towards a European strategy for controlling antibiotic resistance - Nijmegen, Holland August 29-31, 1999

A group of experts met under the auspices of the European Science Foundatio n, the European Medical Research Council and the European Society of Clinic al Microbiology and Infectious Diseases to discuss formulation of a Europea n strategy on the control of antibiotic resistance in Europe. This is a rep ort of the meeting which was used as the basis for a European Commission gr ant application. The need for a common strategy to make best use of scarce resources was agreed and it was concluded that that first stage (discussed in this article) is to collate existing data on resistance rates, antibioti c consumption, antibiotic stewardship, infection control and molecular typi ng methods. Consensus reached from analysis of these data can direct us to the most appropriate controlled trials. While it is accepted that there is a widely held perception that the medical profession has been slow to react to the problem of antibiotic resistance, much more work still needs to be carried out before we can recommend, implement and trial definitive control measures. In the meantime, however, all reasonable efforts should be made to reduce antibiotic consumption without compromising patient care, establi sh cost-effective surveillance systems using existing laboratory generated data, improve hygiene in our hospitals and better define the molecular basi s of antibiotic resistance.