La resistencia a antimicrobianos en las Americas / Antimicrobial resistance in the Americas

ABSTRACT

The increase in the resistance to antimicrobials has become a serious public health concern. Responding jointly to this problem, the Pan American Health Organization and the Pan American Association of Infectious Diseases, supported by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Venezuela, organized the Pan American Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance, which was held in Caraballeda, Venezuela, from 2 to 4 November 1998. In this work the principal recommendations coming out of that conference are summarized for each subject addressed there educating health professionals on the appropriate use of antibiotics, developing a Pan American network to monitor resistance, quality control and ways to achieve laboratory results that are consistent and comparable, and the appropriate use of antibiotics, both in hospitals and in the community (AU)