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Taking the fight to antimicrobial resistance

Scientists from around the world attending the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) conference in Manchester recently heard that 2016 marks the year a ‘long overdue’ scientific fight back against the threat of antibiotic resistance finally gets underway.

Dr Peter Jackson, the project leader behind the AMR Centre, a newly formed public-private organisation which will conduct and fund research into new drugs and diagnostic advances, told delegates: “For the past decade agencies around the world have been expressing concern about over-use of antibiotics in human and animal health and the dramatically rising rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We are moving into a new era. The international health community has stopped just talking about our diminishing supply of effective antibiotics, and started working on ways to solve this crisis.”

Dr Jackson, chair of the steering group behind the AMR Centre, which was set up in March this year and operates from the Alderley Park campus in Cheshire, cited the UK government’s AMR Review, led by economist Lord O’Neill, as key in galvanising action.  

“The O’Neill Review has made it abundantly clear what will happen if we fail to act globally - some 10 million needless deaths a year by 2050, $100 trillion in lost GDP, and the reversal of decades of advances in medicine,” said Dr Jackson. “That message about economic impact has struck a chord in Europe, the USA, China and elsewhere.”

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Upcoming Events

Pathology Horizons 2024

MacDonald Bath Spa Hotel, Bath
18-20 April, 2024

Diagnostics North East Conference 2024

The Catalyst, Newcastle upon Tyne
19 April, 2024

ECCMID 2024 - European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Fira Gran Via, 08038 Barcelona, Spain
27-30 April 2024

British Society for Microbial Technology Annual Microbiology Conference

UK Health Security Agency, Colindale, London
2 May 2024

EQA Reports: Interpreting Key Information & Troubleshooting Tips

ONLINE - Zoom
Thursday 16th May 2024

Participants’ Meeting: UK NEQAS Immunology, Immunochemistry & Allergy

Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield
24th May 2024

Access the latest issue of Pathology In Practice on your mobile device together with an archive of back issues.

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