According to the data released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), antimicrobials used to treat diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans, such as campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis, are becoming less effective.
The report, which refers to 2017 data, shows that resistance to luoroquinolones (such as ciprofloxacin) is so high in Campylobacter bacteria in some countries that these antimicrobials no longer work for the treatment of severe campylobacteriosis cases.
Most countries reported that Salmonella in humans is increasingly resistant to fluoroquinolones. Multidrug resistance (resistance to three or more antimicrobials) is high in Salmonella found in humans (28.3%) and animals, particularly in S.Typhimurium.
In Campylobacter, high to extremely high proportions of bacteria were found to be resistant to ciprofloxacin and tetracyclines. However, combined resistance to critically important antimicrobials was low to very low in Salmonella and Campylobacter from humans and animals, and in indicator E. coli from animals.
In June 2017, the European Commission adopted the EU One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance, calling for effective action against this threat and recognising that it needs to be tackled in both human health, animal health and the environment. The prudent use of antimicrobial is essential to limiting the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans and animals.