TRACS-Liverpool Part 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Tracking anti-microbial resistance across care settings in Liverpool(TRACS-Liverpool) Part 1: informing the design and development of an observational cohort study.
IRAS ID
309060
Contact name
Miriam Taegtmeyer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 28 days
Research summary
This mixed methods study is the first stage of a programme of research looking at how antimicrobial resistance is acquired and transmitted within care settings in Liverpool.
Antimicrobial resistance(AMR) threatens the effectiveness of antibiotics that are widely used in modern medicine. Some resistant bacteria pose a particular threat, namely the group Enterobacterales. These bacteria become resistant to antimicrobials when they acquire genes that enable the bacteria to produce enzymes that destroy antibiotics. People frequently carry these resistant bacteria without knowing. But in some cases they cause illness that can be life threatening or untreatable.
Although we understand how people can acquire these bacteria – either through direct exposure, such as swallowing them, or through exposure to antibiotics; it is less clear when and how these resistant bacteria are transmitted.
We know that people requiring frequent hospital admissions, or who live in long term care facilities are at particular risk of acquiring resistant bacteria.
We also know that rates of antimicrobial resistance are higher in the north-west than in the rest of the UK.
In order to be able to accurately plan and explore the problem of antimicrobial resistance locally we first need to understand it.
We will interview up to 50 key informants from local health and care organisations in order to gain a deeper understanding of how the hospital and care systems work locally.
We will compare this information with specific datasets about antimicrobial resistant infection rates from selected local hospitals.
Combining these different sources of information will allow us to identify how and where potential transmission may be occurring. We can then accurately plan how to explore this further in the next stage of the research.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/NW/0032
Date of REC Opinion
16 Feb 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion