# 5719
Although we often see research and discussions on multidrug resistant (MDR), extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and pandrug-resistant (PDR) bacteria, a bit surprisingly there aren’t any universally accepted definitions for the above terms.
Since such ambiguities compromise the ability of scientists to review and compare research data, an international panel of experts has been assembled by the ECDC and the CDC, tasked with coming up with standardized definitions.
This press release from the ECDC.
27 Jul 2011
Emergence of resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents in pathogenic bacteria has become a significant public health threat. As this problem continues to grow, harmonised definitions to describe and classify bacteria that are resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents are needed, so that epidemiological surveillance data can be reliably collected and compared across healthcare settings and countries.
A group of international experts came together by a joint initiative by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to create a standardised international terminology with which to describe acquired resistance profiles in Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus spp., Enterobacteriaceae (other than Salmonella and Shigella), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter spp., all bacteria often responsible for healthcare-associated infections and prone to multidrug resistance.
Read more:
The definitions are published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection and are openly accessible.
Updates of the definitions will, when performed, be posted on this page hosted by ECDC.
You’ll find worksheets designed to classify S. aureus, Enterococcus spp., Enterobacteriaceae (other than Salmonella and Shigella) , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and Acinetobacter spp. at this link.
For those interested in the details and the work that went into defining these terms, you can read the entire article in today’s Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infection:
Multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant and pandrug-resistant bacteria: an international expert proposal for interim standard definitions for acquired resistance
A.-P. Magiorakos,A. Srinivasan, R. B. Carey, Y. Carmeli, M. E. Falagas, C. G. Giske, S. Harbarth, J. F. Hindler, G. Kahlmeter, B. Olsson-Liljequist, D. L. Paterson, L. B. Rice, J. Stelling, M. J. Struelens, A. Vatopoulos, J. T. Weber, D. L. Monnet
For a quick reference, I’ve created a mash up of some of the highlights of the tables.
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