Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance Report

1Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medicine, and Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta; 2Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario; 3Health Sciences Centre, St John’s, Newfoundland; 4Bluewater Health, Sarnia, Ontario; 5St Joseph’s Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario; 6Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia Correspondence and reprints: Rick Walter, Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance, 3806 West 33 Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V6N 2H6. Telephone 604-263-4520, fax 604-263-7074, e-mail ccar@shaw.ca The present article, one in a series of articles provided by the Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance (CCAR), is intended to update readers on current activities focused on limiting the development and transmission of resistance in Canada. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the CCAR provides outreach to public and professional communities through a variety of activities focused on infection prevention and control, resistance surveillance and optimal antibiotic use. At the Conjoint Conference of the Canadian Infectious Diseases Society (now the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada) and the Community and Hospital Infection Control Association of Canada, CCAR assisted in the development of a symposium on antibiotic resistance (May 2, 2004, Calgary, Alberta). This forum was used to introduce CCAR’s Proposed National Action Plan to Address Antibiotic Resistance. Comments on the Plan are now being solicited before its public release targeted for October 2004. The Plan is available on the CCAR Web site (1) at . The symposium was attended by over 200 delegates of the Conjoint Conference. Summarized below are four of the key presentations which formed the majority of the symposium’s content.