Antimicrobial resistance and COVID-19: Intersections and implications

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.64139
• Publication Date: 2021-02-16T14:46:24Z
• Authors: Gwenan M Knight; Rebecca E Glover; C Finn McQuaid; Ioana D Olaru; Karin Gallandat; Quentin J Leclerc; Naomi M Fuller; Sam J Willcocks; Rumina Hasan; Esther van Kleef; Clare IR Chandler
• Keywords: Epidemiology; QH301-705.5; Science; Global health; global health; Infectious Disease; Antimicrobial resistance; Global Health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Pathology; Humans; antimicrobial resistance; Biology (General); SARS-CoV-2; Q; R; COVID-19; Anti-Bacterial Agents; COVID-19 Drug Treatment; 3. Good health; Epidemiology and Global Health; Virus Diseases; Communicable Disease Control; Critical Pathways; Medicine

Before the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was among the top priorities for global public health. Already a complex challenge, AMR now needs to be addressed in a changing healthcare landscape. Here, we analyse how changes due to COVID-19 in terms of antimicrobial usage, infection prevention, and health systems affect the emergence, transmission, and burden of AMR. Increased hand hygiene, decreased international travel, and decreased elective hospital procedures may reduce AMR pathogen selection and spread in the short term. However, the opposite effects may be seen if antibiotics are more widely used as standard healthcare pathways break down. Over 6 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the dynamics of AMR remain uncertain. We call for the AMR community to keep a global perspective while designing finely tuned surveillance and research to continue to improve our preparedness and response to these intersecting public health challenges.