Antibiotic Resistance and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Children

Dear Colleagues,

Antimicrobial resistance is a large burden on healthcare systems globally. Whilst they are lifesaving, when misused or overused, antibiotics can lead to bacterial resistance. A lack of appropriate hygiene measures both in the community and hospital settings favours the spread of bacteria and increases antibiotic use. Hospital-acquired infections are associated with difficult-to-treat multidrug-resistant bacteria. Children, particularly neonates, are affected by the increasing resistance of organisms, especially in healthcare settings.

Antibiotic stewardship aims to improve patient outcomes by following evidence-based guidelines on antibiotic use relating to the appropriate dose, duration, route of administration and assessment after 48 h.  By decreasing the misuse of antibiotics, the development of antibiotic resistance can be slowed and the clinical usefulness of specific antibiotics prolonged.  Interventions and guidelines are often aimed at the adult population. However, children have unique characteristics, infections and antibiotic prescribing patterns from adults and deserve special consideration in antimicrobial stewardship programmes. In addition, the prescribing of antibiotics in early life may alter the microbiome and have long-term consequences.

Antibiotic stewardship core elements include the monitoring and surveillance of antibiotic use, monitoring resistance patterns, educating all levels of healthcare providers and implementing interventions to improve antibiotic prescribing.  Whilst stewardship programmes within hospital settings are often highlighted, antibiotics are most often prescribed in communities, and antibiotic stewardship should be promoted in community settings.

This Special Issue aims to provide multidisciplinary perspective of antibiotic stewardship as it relates to paediatrics and neonates.  We invite submissions from healthcare  providers, microbiologists, public health specialists, epidemiologists and social scientists to provide perspectives, opportunities and challenges in reducing the burden of antimicrobial resistance via the implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programmes within the paediatric environment both within community and hospital settings.

Dr. Heather Finlayson
Dr. David Paul Moore
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• antimicrobial resistance
• antibiotic stewardship
• children/neonates
• multidrug-resistant bacteria