National action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance in Taiwan.

Antibiotic-resistant microorganisms continue to emerge and spread. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the three major challenges in patient safety. In 2011, the World Health Organization designated “Combat antimicrobial resistance” as the theme for World Health Day, stating “no action today, no cure tomorrow.” We need to actively confront the issue of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance is both a threat and a challenge to the treatment of infectious diseases in Taiwan. Based on the national database on antimicrobial resistance from the Taiwan Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System during the period 2003e2012, the proportion of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in intensive care units in medical centers and regional hospitals decreased from 89.2% to 69.9%; the proportion of vancomycin-resistant enterococci infections increased from 2.9% to 23.2%; the proportion of Enterobacteriaceae isolates resistant to carbapenems increased from 1.4% to 8.1%; and the proportion of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates resistant to imipenem or meropenem increased from 17.2% to 72.8%. In response to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens encountered in hospitals and, more recently, in the community, the Centers for Disease