[The international surveillance of antibiotics resistance]

The growth promoter story in the 1990 s increased the focus on antibiotic misuse and related resistance. A Danish EU conference, The Microbial Threat, in 1998 resulted in The Copenhagen Recommendations, on the basic principles for a policy to contain resistance, which was transformed into EU recommendations in 2001. Following this a range of programs on monitoring of resistance and consumption, research, national campaigns etc. has been accomplished. The US, Canada and Australia have also upgraded their efforts in this area, while the WHO lacks resources to approach the countries in the rest of the world, in which these problems are the worst.