Following the request from the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Medicines Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, have established a set of indicators to assist European Union Member States to assess their progress in reducing the use of antimicrobials and combatting antimicrobial resistance.
The indicators address both the human and animal sectors and reflect antimicrobial consumption and antimicrobial resistance in the community, in hospitals and in food-producing animals. The indicators are based on data already gathered through existing EU monitoring networks.
Examples of indicators to assess antimicrobial resistance in human medicine include the proportion of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that are resistant to methicillin (MRSA) and the proportion Escherichia coli (E.coli) bacteria that are resistant to third-generation cephalosporins. These two pathogens are of major public health importance. For veterinary medicine, an example indicator is the proportion of E. coli bacteria from food-producing animals that are susceptible or resistant to a number of antimicrobials. In terms of consumption, the suggested primary indicators are the human consumption of antimicrobials, and the overall sales of veterinary antimicrobials.