Antibiotic stewardship: a European perspective

Abstract

Antibiotic stewardship programmes, which are a set of interventions aiming at prescribing antibiotics appropriately and responsibly, are one of the key strategies to tackle the current worldwide bacterial resistance crisis. We will present here some examples of international and national initiatives, with a focus on Europe, discuss the role of clinical microbiologists, and present some perspectives and future developments.Antibiotic stewardship (ABS) is one of the key strategies to tackle the current worldwide bacterial resistance crisis (http://ift.tt/2u2bzuV). It refers to a set of interventions aiming at prescribing antibiotics appropriately and responsibly, even though its precise definition is still a topic of debate (Dyar 2017a, Mendelson 2017).This Commentary will focus on antibiotic stewardship in human medicine, but we acknowledge the importance of a One Health approach, including veterinary medicine, agriculture and the environment.