ANTIMICROBIAL resistance in Australia is now under constant surveillance, giving experts much better and more timely information to help combat the threat, according to a new report from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
A new system set up to provide early warning of the spread of dangerous bacteria has detected over 1,000 cases resistant to last-line antibiotics.
The National Alert System for Critical Antimicrobial Resistance (CARAlert) system was established by the Commission in Mar 2016, with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health.
CARAlert collects information about highly resistant bacteria as they are confirmed, allowing trends to be identified and giving states and territories information to help containment efforts.
The first annual report of CARAlert reveals 1,064 incidents of highly resistant bacteria were lodged in the system from 17 Mar 2016 to 31 Mar 2017.
Reports from 73 participating laboratories nationwide in the system's first full year of operation found at least one strain of bacteria with a 'critical antimicrobial resistance', defined as bacteria that cannot be treated by last-line antibiotics, reported from every state and territory.
The new report shows that 86 entries were made to CARAlert system each month on average from Apr 2016 to Mar 2017, with at least 37% of the critical antimicrobial resistances (CARs) from patients in the community.
Prior to Dec 2016 carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae were the most commonly reported pathogen, but since then, the most frequently reported type of CAR was a strain of the bacterium that causes gonorrhoea that is no longer susceptible to the antibiotic azithromycin, namely neisseria gonorrhoeae, accounting for 62% of all CARs reported in Mar 2017 and 67% in Feb.
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