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The Microbiology Society was proud to lead a policy workshop at this year's Innovations Against AMR Summit, held at the University of Warwick, UK.  

As part of the Knocking Out AMR project, the Microbiology Society has published a new report summarising the discussions from a One Health AMR Surveillance Roundtable, held in December 2024.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most pressing global health threats of our time, undermining the efficacy of life-saving treatments and placing a growing burden on health systems worldwide. While vaccines are recognised for their ability to prevent infections and reduce antibiotic use, thereby slowing the emergence of resistance, their role in addressing AMR remains underexploited in both policy and practice.

The Microbiology Society expresses concern over the UK Government’s decision to cut funding to the Fleming Fund, a flagship global health programme working to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Fleming Fund is the world’s largest aid-funded initiative focused on AMR surveillance and capacity building. These cuts threaten to undermine vital progress in one of the most pressing global health challenges of our time.

In March 2025, the Microbiology Society submitted a response to the UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry into antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We are pleased to share that our evidence was considered and quoted in the final inquiry report, which was published last week.

As Ireland’s Second One Health Nation Action Plan (iNAP2) on AMR concludes, the Microbiology Society urges a stronger role for researchers in shaping the next phase of national policy.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)’s antimicrobial resistance (AMR) & Healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) division, together with the Evaluation & Epidemiological Science division, are working on an assessment to improve UKHSA-provided surveillance outputs related to the AMR national action plan 2024-2029. These include surveillance statistics and monitoring data on various bacterial and fungal infections, antimicrobial use, pathogen resistance rates and antimicrobial stewardship.

The Microbiology Society is contributing to an online survey launched by Quadripartite Joint Secrerariat on AMR, as part of the formal consultation process for updating the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (GAP-AMR). 

This year’s World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) takes place 18–24 November. The week takes place annually to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and encourage best practice among the public, One Health stakeholders and policymakers.

The latest edition of Microbiology Today is now available to read online. This issue, titled ‘Emerging Opportunities’, brings a positive view on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) with innovative ways of tackling this threat using sustainable resources, such as seaweed and Matuba tree (Ficus natalensis) bark cloth. The issue highlights Access Microbiology the Society’s Open Access platform, the role of microbiologists in space exploration, and bacterial genomics and artificial intelligence (AI).

Last week, the UK Government published the latest five-year AMR National Action Plan (NAP), “Confronting Antimicrobial Resistance”, which aims to take the UK closer to reaching its vision of containing and controlling AMR by 2040.

Today, the UK Government released its new National Action Plan to tackle AMR, “Confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029”.

Responding to a press release from the UK Department of Health and Social Care and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announcing a £39 million cash injection for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research, Professor Gurdyal Besra FRS, President of the Microbiology Society said:

When it comes to disease-causing microbes, bacteria and viruses usually steal the spotlight. But there is another, often overlooked, microbial foe that is a grave cause for concern. Fungal pathogens cause an estimated 1.5 million human deaths and destroy a third of the global crop yield each year. Despite this impact on human health and food security, the number of antifungal drugs available is extremely limited.

Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL), France, have been involved in antifungal stewardship since 2017, with the aim of optimising the management of invasive fungal infections and containing antifungal resistance. Invasive fungal infections such as invasive candidiasis and invasive aspergillosis are a significant cause of mortality, especially in critically ill patients and immunocompromised patients.
 

We are pleased to announce our first Focused Meeting of 2023, Vaccines as Tools to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance, in association with BactiVac, the Bacterial Vaccines Network. The meeting will take place on 27—28 February 2023 at Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre in Birmingham, UK.

A new cross-government project to track foodborne pathogens brings together the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Food Standards Scotland (FSS), the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Public Health England (PHE) and the Environment Agency to test the application of genomic technologies in the surveillance of foodborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistant (AMR) microbes in all four nations of the UK.

Research has found fidaxomicin, an antibiotic usually used to treat bowel infections, prevents growth of resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) in the lab.

Published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, the research found that fidaxomicin was more effective than existing tuberculosis (TB) medication at preventing growth of the bacterium that causes TB.