The Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS), created in 2002, is a national program dedicated to the collection, integration, analysis, and communication of trends in antimicrobial use (AMU) and resistance (AMR) in selected bacteria from humans, animals, and animal-derived food sources across Canada. This information supports (i) the creation of evidence-based policies for AMU in hospitals, communities, and food-animal production with the aim of prolonging the effectiveness of these drugs and (ii) the identification of appropriate measures to contain the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria among animals, food, and people.
During 2012, CIPARS held discussions on alternative methods of analyzing and presenting the surveillance data to adjust for different data closure dates, and to maximize the integration of existing data. The Annual Report will be released in a Chapter format to improve the timeliness of the data publications. The new Annual Report will consist of 4 chapters: Chapter 1—Design and Methods, Chapter 2—Antimicrobial Resistance, Chapter 3—Antimicrobial Use In Animals, and Chapter 4— Integrated Findings and Discussion. Chapter 1 includes detailed information on the design and methods used by CIPARS to obtain and analyze the AMR and AMU data, including two summary tables describing changes that have been implemented since the beginning of the program. Chapters 2 and 3 present results for AMR and AMU, respectively, with each chapter including a section on the top key findings. Chapter 4 brings together some of the results across surveillance components, over time, across regions, and across host/bacterial species.