This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with its National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) partners, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service, released the 2015 NARMS Integrated Report. The annual report highlights antimicrobial resistance patterns in bacteria isolated from humans (by CDC), raw retail meats (by FDA), and animals at slaughter (by USDA). The report also provides information derived from whole genome sequence data about resistance genes for all Salmonella and some Campylobacterisolates. The report includes NARMS Now, a set of interactive data tools that allow users to explore the dynamics of antibiotic resistance and the genes involved. While overall resistance remains low for most human infections and there have been measurable improvements in resistance levels in some important areas, NARMS is closely monitoring a few areas of concern.
NARMS monitors antibiotic resistance in foodborne bacteria in order to assist public health officials in making data-driven decisions designed to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics for humans and animals. For example, NARMS data inform FDA’s approval of safe and effective new antimicrobial drugs for animals, and help CDC and USDA investigate foodborne illness outbreaks. NARMS data will also be critical in evaluating the effectiveness of FDA’s Guidance for Industry #213 and the agricultural objectives in the U.S. National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.