Trends in Antimicrobial Resistance in England and Wales: 2005 report

Synopsis

This report comprises data on antimicrobial resistance in a range of pathogens, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. The data presented have largely been generated by the Health Protection Agency from a variety of surveillance activities, including collation of routinely-generated susceptibility test results and several programmes of enhanced surveillance. The present report follows on from a previous report, which detailed the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in England and Wales in 2000, but differs in that the resistance data presented covers a three-year period, from 2001 to 2003. Although some comparisons are made with data presented in the previous report, comparisons of the geographical variation in the rates of specific resistances are problematic due to the redefining of the Government Office Regions in April 2002. For the purposes of this report, regional data were derived for all three years using the new regional framework. The present report also includes a contribution from the VLA, which marks a growing collaboration aimed at monitoring antimicrobial resistance across the veterinary-human fields.

Last reviewed: 14 August 2009