Case-based surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in the ACORN (A Clinically Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network) study

The current pilot of ACORN will collect data until May 2020, followed by review of the results, identification of challenges and solutions and refinement of the procedures and tools prior to a follow-up proposal for wider roll-out. Expanding the spectrum of clinical syndromes and pathogens will be part of this. Use of case definitions for diagnostic stewardship and enrollment are an area of uncertainty that will be reviewed specifically.

Implementation of ACORN in parallel with laboratory capacity-building in LMICs will maximize the opportunities for rapid generation of actionable AMR and drug-resistant infection data that fulfil the three described purposes of surveillance and will, in addition, provide burden of diseases data.