Antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the resistance of a microorganism to an antimicrobial medicine to which it was previously sensitive. It develops when a microorganism mutates or acquires a resistance gene. Resistant organisms (including bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa and helminths) are able to withstand attack by antimicrobial medicines such as antibiotics, antivirals and antimalarials, so that standard treatments become ineffective and infections persist and may spread to other people.
About AMRTop story
Antimicrobial stewardship course now available in French
More than 25 000 people have taken the massive open online course “Antimicrobial stewardship: a competency-based approach” since January 2018. Now, for the first time, the course will be available in French.
News
- Tokmok Territorial Hospital, Kyrgyzstan – showing the way to reducing antibiotic use in surgery
- Has the European Region embraced the One Health approach in the fight against antimicrobial resistance?
- WHO releases new guidance on treating drug-resistant tuberculosis in children and adolescents
Advocacy briefs
AMR affects health in different contexts and focusing on different sectors can contribute to managing AMR.
Download the suite of advocacy documentsMultimedia
Video - Antibiotics don’t work on viruses like influenza
Key resource
Central Asian and European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance network (CAESAR)A joint initiative to survey, contain and prevent the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in the European Region.
Publications
Central Asian and European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance. Annual report 2019
More publications
Data and statistics
25 000
The number of people out of 400 000 who die every year in the European Region due to an infection with a resistant bacterial strain.
