Media advisory - Antimicrobial Resistance: Canadian Society of Microbiologists and international experts welcome the G8 Science Ministers statement on antimicrobial resistance

OTTAWA, June 19, 2013 /CNW/ - The Canadian Society of Microbiologists hosted a symposium on antimicrobial resistance during the Society's annual conference held at Carleton University June 16 and 17^th 2013. International experts from North America, Europe and Asia discussed the state of science and reached the following consensus.

• Several human activities, including wastewater discharges, land spreading of manures from medicated animals, and effluents from drug manufacturing have the potential to increase the environmental reservoir of antimicrobial resistance and generate new antimicrobial resistance mechanisms.
• New antimicrobial drugs to replace those that are no longer effective are desperately needed.
• There is an urgent need to develop an aggressive policy and research agenda, and deploy the necessary resources to deal with the seminally important health issue of antimicrobial resistance development.

Only immediate effective action on a global scale will prevent a 'perfect storm' of antimicrobial resistance that will compromise the use of drugs indispensable for health care. Health care considerations are paramount, and these critical therapeutic agents must be preserved through science-based action. We applaud the June 12/2013 announcement by the G8 science ministers concerning the need to maintain effective antibiotics for the treatment of disease. We encourage the Governments of Canada and indeed all countries to implement policies that avoid the misuse of antibiotics in agriculture and medicine, stimulate the antimicrobial research and development pipeline, support international collaboration, and fund theoretical and applied research to understand the origin, spread, evolution and development of antimicrobial resistance.

Julian Davies- University of British Columbia, Canada
Gerry Wright-McMaster University, Canada
Gautam Dantas- Washington University, USA
Michael Gillings- Macquarie University, Australia
William Gaze- University of Exeter Medical School, UK
Tong Zhang- University of Hong Kong, China
Satoru Suzuki- Ehime University, Japan
Nick Ashbolt- University of New South Wales, Australia
Pascal Simonet- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
Nancy Martin- Queen's University, Canada, President, CSM

SOURCE: Canadian Society of Microbiologists

Professor Julian Davies [email protected] 604-822-5856