Editorial: Antimicrobial Resistance as a Global Public Health Problem: How Can We Address It?
Luciene Andrade da Rocha Minarini, Leonardo Neves Andrade, Eliana De Gregorio, Filipa Grosso, Thierry Naas, Raffaele Zarrilli, Ilana Lopes Baratella da Cunha Camargo
Abstract
Misuse of antibiotics in agriculture, food production, and especially among humans and animals is the predominant factor in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance, which might further lead to deaths from infections worldwide (1). More specifically, in the European Union, attributable deaths due to antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms were estimated to be 33,110 per year (2). At the same time, it is now easier to isolate and characterize antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in clinical settings or the environment (1). In 2017, the WHO described the most critical multidrug-resistant bacteria for which novel therapeutics are urgently needed (3). Without surprise, they belonged to the already known group, ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.) (4), which causes most of the healthcare-associated infections nowadays.