Antimicrobial resistance in Italy: preliminary results from the AR-ISS project

Antimicrobial resistance represents a critical problem in human medicine today, from both clinical and economic points of view. In 1999, the Council of the European Union included antibiotic resistance among the public health priorities in the Community, and a resolution entitled 'A strategy against the microbial threat' was issued (1). According to this document, the establishment or strengthening of a surveillance system for the collection of reliable and comparable data on a national and international scale is one of the main interventions needed to control and prevent antibiotic resistance. Surveillance systems should also integrate data about the use and prescription of antibiotics (2).