Methods
Resistance Data Human Medicine
ANRESIS collects and analyses anonymous antibiotic resistance data provided by a representative selection of Swiss clinical microbiology laboratories. Resistance data are generated during routine medical care (privacy statement) and are reported as delivered. The data collected represent approximately 90% of annual hospitalisation days (see interactive graph for details) and at least 30% of Swiss practitioners. Epidemiological data provided allow for stratification of resistance results according to hospital versus outpatients, age groups and anatomical location. The annual number of isolates for which data are provided to ANRESIS can be viewed on a stacked bar chart.
Resistance Data Veterinary Medicine
The Resistance Monitoring programme in livestock and meat is yearly defined for specific pathogens from pigs, cattle, poultry and turkey. Stratified random samples are taken since 2016. Sampling is spread evenly throughout each year, based on a sampling plan established for meat inspections. Samples are collected at the two largest poultry slaughterhouses as well as at the four largest pig and five largest cattle slaughterhouses. Every slaughterhouse taking part in the program collected a number of samples proportional to the number of animals of the species slaughtered per year. Samples are sent to the national reference laboratory for antimicrobial resistance ZOBA, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, for further analyses. In accordance with the European legislation, meat samples are taken from fresh, chilled, packed and untreated meat sold at the retail level. Samples are collected in all Swiss cantons throughout the year. The applied sampling scheme considered each canton’s population density and the market shares of the retailers. Moreover, the proportion of imported and domestically produced meat within each meat category was included in the sampling plan.
The Resistance Monitoring programme in diseased animals was initiated in 2019 and consolidated in 2022 to include pathogen/animal and indication combinations which are of relevance in veterinary medicine. The strains are isolated from diagnostic submissions of nearly all Swiss veterinary diagnostic laboratories (university, cantonal, private) in order to achieve good representativeness of the results.
Determination of the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) are performed at the Swiss national reference laboratory (ZOBA).