ACORN (A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network) II: protocol for case based antimicrobial resistance surveillance

<ns3:p> <ns3:bold>Background</ns3:bold> : <ns3:bold/> Antimicrobial resistance surveillance is essential for empiric antibiotic prescribing, infection prevention and control policies and to drive novel antibiotic discovery. However, most existing surveillance systems are isolate-based without supporting patient-based clinical data, and not widely implemented especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). </ns3:p> <ns3:p> <ns3:bold>Methods</ns3:bold> : A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (ACORN) II is a large-scale multicentre protocol which builds on the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System to estimate syndromic and pathogen outcomes along with associated health economic costs. ACORN-healthcare associated infection (ACORN-HAI) is an extension study which focuses on healthcare-associated bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Our main aim is to implement an efficient clinically-oriented antimicrobial resistance surveillance system, which can…