STATUS OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

The most urgent antibiotic resistance problems identified by APUA Italy members are:

  • Lack of surveillance of antibiotic use and resistance
  • Lack of updated antibiotic use and treatment guidelines
  • Lack of continuing medical education on antibiotic use for prescribers
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacteriaceae, MRSA
  • Acute respiratory Infections (ARI)

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

APUA-Italy was established in 1996, with assistance from a core group of 20 healthcare professionals from different hospitals in the region. The group has been seeking collaboration from township and local institutions, and received official recognition from the Ministry of Health, which appointed its representative therein. In this initial effort, the group has been established with a prevalent regional basis; nevertheless, the need of seeking broader membership representation is fully perceived, in order to gain a national dimension and to bring together the numerous and precious experiences in antibiotic usage country-wide.

Chapter Objectives and Priorities

  • Educational goal: awareness of bacterial eco-systems in health operators and also citizens, through schools and social institutions
  • Research goal: address research to monitor local patterns in bacterial susceptibility, prescribing habits and antibiotic usage in clinical, veterinary and food production domain
  • Communication goal: collaboration with institutions, local organizations, communication media to promote citizen sensitization, development of social policies aimed to avoid inappropriate use of antimicrobials in all its domains (medical, veterinary, etc.), by ways of awider environmental ethics

CHAPTER ACTIVITIES

APUA Italy has been involved in research and surveilance, consumer and patient education, expert advice/media information, development of reports and other written materials, collaboration with other organizations and facilitation of collaboration between experts. President of the APUA-Italy chapter, Dr. Giuseppe Cornaglia is co-editor of the newly released "European Manual of Clinical Microbiology" which is mainly intended for those involved in medical microbiology, but suitable for clinicians, residents and students as well. Dr. Cornaglia also authored the chapter on Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance.

Read about the latest chapter updates here

CHAPTER LEADERSHIP

Giuseppe Cornaglia
Andrea Novelli
Evelina Tacconelli