ARMed-EARSS

Antibiotic susceptibility data will be collected for strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecium & faecalis and Escherichia coli of human origin, routinely isolated from blood and CSF samples in the participating laboratories. The participants all follow standardised laboratory techniques as per guidelines issued by the NCCLS. The surveillance of antimicrobial resistance will include as a minimum those antibiotic representing important mechanisms of resistance.

The quality of resistance data will be validated through an external quality assurance and proficiency testing programme.

Data collection will take place over a period of 30 months allowing enough data to be accumulated to obtain a representative epidemiological picture of the respective countries and also to detect any trends in emerging resistance.

Antibiotic resistance data from the individual Mediterranean partner countries will be sent to the co-ordinating centre on a three-monthly basis for validation. The quarterly data will then be analysed by the lead contractor.

Epidemiological patterns of resistance will be established and communicated back to the project partners. They will be posted in the ARMed website and updated regularly.

Resistance data from the ARMed project will be compared with similar data from the EARSS. This will be possible through the use of similar methodologies and will allow for the first time a standardised comparison of antibiotic resistance data throughout the Mediterranean region.