Beyond infection prevention and control: How genome sequencing of AMR pathogens can improve antibiotic stewardship and patient care

During previous webinars we have discussed the global impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) infections, explored biological root causes for AMR and the significance of pathogen genome sequencing for antibiotic stewardship and infection control. In webinar #4 of our series on combatting AMR, we survey the literature and case studies to take a closer look at the potential benefits to patients and healthcare systems that can be realized through the routine use of genome sequencing for the identification and characterization of AMR pathogens. We review the state-of-the art in next-generation sequencing (NGS) and AI-assisted bioinformatics in the context of AMR outbreak surveillance and infection prevention and control. Moving from outbreak analysis applications towards enabling the informed selection of effective antibiotics in patient care, we conclude the webinar by exploring recent advances in assay turnaround time and machine-learning for the prediction of antibiotic treatment response directly from bacterial genome data.

 

Learning Objectives