GRACE: Combating Antimicrobial Resistance
The use of antibiotics “are not justified to reduce the risk of serious complications for upper RTI, sore throat, or otitis media.” This was one of the main conclusions of a retrospective cohort study in the UK as reported recently in BMJ. The study looked into more than 3 million cases of RTI found in the UK General Practice Research Database [1].
There have always been concerns about the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, especially as preemptive measure to reduce complications of upper RTI. The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial strains indicates that these concerns are justified.
In Europe, a one of a kind consortium is tackling the problem of antimicrobial resistance in community-acquired lower RTI. The Network of Excellence GRACE consists of “17 academic groups with a wide spectrum of expertise, spread widely across the EU Member States.” Among these are two leading European scientific societies, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and European Respiratory Society. GRACE integrates clinical research with genomics as well as education and training of medical professionals [2].
Abbreviations:
GRACE = Genomics to Combat Resistance against Antibiotics in Community-acquired lower respiratory tract infection in
Europe
RTI = respiratory tract infection
Sources:
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