Anti-microbial resistance was identified by the 2013 World Economic Forum as one of the greatest risks globally to human health. This conclusion was further emphasized from the Davos meeting: The Global Risk Report 2016, where the Spread of Infectious Disease was ranked as one of the top highest risks with the highest impact for humankind. When infections can no longer be treated by first-line antibiotics, more expensive medicines must be used. A longer duration of illness and treatment, often in hospitals, increases health care costs as well as the economic burden on families and societies.
Antibiotic resistance is putting the achievements of modern medicine at risk. Organ transplantations, chemotherapy, and surgeries become much more dangerous without effective antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of infections.
• Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today.
• Antibiotic resistance can affect anyone, of any age, in any country, at any time.
• Antibiotic resistance occurs naturally, but misuse of antibiotics in humans and animals is accelerating the process.
• A growing number of infections – such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and gonorrhea – are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used to treat them become less active.
• Antibiotic resistance leads to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs, and increased mortality.
To combat AMR, a multi-prong approach is needed, with actions including;
• A massive global public awareness campaign
• Improve hygiene and prevent the spread of infection
• Reduce unnecessary use of antimicrobials in agriculture and their dissemination into the environment
• Improve global surveillance of drug resistance and antimicrobial consumption in humans and animals
• Promote new, rapid diagnostics to cut unnecessary use of antibiotics
• Better incentives to encourage investment in new medicines and improving existing ones
To prevent and control the spread of antibiotic resistance, the health industry can:
Invest in research and development of new antibiotics, vaccines, diagnostics and other tools.
The technology and application development performed by Symcel Sverige AB has emerged as a potential new player for in vitro diagnostic use in the field of bacterial detection and antimicrobial resistance determination.
Diagnostic tools for bacterial infections and antimicrobial susceptibility testing are still in need of development with a focus on faster detection times, higher flexibility regarding the selection of antibiotics to be tested, and the possibility to detect bacterial activity in a range of different clinical samples. Todays ´technology is mostly based on the same principles of growth and detection as a century ago. Recent efforts to base the diagnosis on molecular probes has emerged but not fully delivered on the promise to become a widespread technology.
The overall objective of this study has been to establish the specific fields within in vitro diagnostics where the SymCel technology has the best fit and a possible impact as a novel tool for bacterial activity detection and antimicrobial resistance determination.
