The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recognised Utrecht University (UU) and Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) as an FAO Reference Centre for antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Wageningen University & Research reports.
Over the next five years the centre will contribute to global AMR surveillance in animals and along the food chain, help develop guidelines and training programmes, and build capacity in low- and middle-income countries. It joins the Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at UU's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine with WBVR in Lelystad, and is led by Professor Jaap Wagenaar of UU and Dr Kees Veldman of WBVR.
Antimicrobial resistance, when bacteria survive the drugs meant to kill them, is one of the greatest threats to human and animal health, and the health of people, animals and the environment are closely linked in it, the announcement says.
"This recognition makes us part of a global network of experts through which we can make a sustained contribution to the responsible use of antibiotics in animals," Wagenaar said. Wagenaar's department is already a collaborating centre of the World Health Organization and the World Organisation for Animal Health, and Veldman's laboratory is the Netherlands' national reference laboratory for AMR in livestock.
Photo: Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Wageningen University & Research
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