Antimicrobial Resistance

Veterinary researchers from the universities of Bristol and Surrey have been awarded a prestigious award by the Veterinary Record, the official journal of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), for their contribution to changing antimicrobial use in veterinary practice. The researchers were awarded the ‘Vet Record Impact Award’ for their study which showed that ceasing the use of highest-priority antimicrobials does not adversely affect cattle health and welfare on dairy farms.

The AMR Force team at the Bristol Vet School contributed to the October 2018 POSTnote which discusses the current use of antibiotics in animals and the options available for reducing that use.

Prof Helen Lambert, Professor of Medical Anthropology at the Bristol Medical School, was the ESRC's AMR Research Champion from 2015-2017. Read her article in the Impact publication on her work to engage and highlight the role of social science research into AMR and to increase awareness of the value of social science research evidence for tackling AMR among scientists and health policy makers.

Prof Alastair Hay, GP and Professor of Primary Care at the Bristol Medical School sits on the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Management of Infections committee which develops prescribing guidelines for the management of common infections and is looking at ways to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in both primary and secondary care.

Dr Katy Turner (Bristol Vet School) was commissioned by Lord Jim O'Neill's final AMR Review to model and examine the benefits of a hypothetical diagnostic test for gonorrhoea. Her findings showed that despite the high cost (because the overall proportion of infection in those tested is low), the benefit from preventing or even slowing increases in resistance to the first-line antibiotic, ceftriaxone, is substantial, since the costs of developing new antibiotics are enormous and takes a decade or more. The final AMR Review recommends that antibiotics should only be prescribed if informed by data or testing technology.