ICMR’s Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance system (i-AMRSS): a promising tool for global antimicrobial resistance surveillance

BACKGROUND: Growing resistance to antimicrobials has become an important health issue of the 21st century. Many international, national and local approaches are being employed for the control and prevention of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Among them, surveillance is reported to be the best method to reduce the spread of infection and thereby AMR. An integral component of AMR surveillance is the informatics suite for collection, storage and analysis of surveillance data. METHODS: Considering the traits of an optimal surveillance tool and constraints with existing tools, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) initiated the design and development of ICMR’s Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance system (i-AMRSS). i-AMRSS is a web-based tool built using modular architecture. It is capable of collecting standardized data from small laboratories to generate local and nationwide reports. RESULTS: i-AMRSS is a robust, comprehensive, modular, extensible and intelligent open-source tool piloted in ICMR’s AMR Network (31 hospitals and laboratories across India) since 2016. The developed tool has collected more than 280 000 patient records to date. CONCLUSIONS: The standardized data collected through i-AMRSS would be valuable for various collaborators to monitor outbreaks and infection control practices, evaluate transmission dynamics and formulate antibiotic use and selling policies. The tool is presently being used to capture human testing and consumption data, however, it can be extended for AMR surveillance using a ‘One Health’ approach.