[Antimicrobial resistance monitoring in Lower Saxony (ARMIN): first trends for MRSA, ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and VRE from 2006 to 2010].

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most important health topics of the past few years. To identify regional trends of antimicrobial resistance in inpatient and outpatient care, the Governmental Institute of Public Health of Lower Saxony (Germany) launched the sentinel system ARMIN (Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring in Lower Saxony). Currently 9 laboratories participate as sentinel sites and contribute single case data of their microbiological results. Data are presented by an interactive data query in the internet. From 2006 to 2010 laboratories reported about 800 000 diagnostic test results. The proportion of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) among all Staphylococcus aureus increased from 19.5% in 2006 to 23.4% in 2010 for inpatient care in Lower Saxony. During the same period Escherichia coli resistance to cefotaxime for inpatient care increased from 3.0% to 8.8%. Enterococcus faecium resistance to vancomycin decreased from 13.6% to 5.6%. Currently the emphasis of ARMIN is on the description of trends and on the information of prescribing physicians. A quality circle was established to improve standardisation.