TY - JOUR T1 - Antimicrobial resistance: a major priority for global focus JF - European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy JO - Eur J Hosp Pharm SP - 63 LP - 64 DO - 10.1136/ejhpharm-2022-003241 VL - 29 IS - 2 AU - Jonathan Cooke Y1 - 2022/03/01 UR - http://ejhp.bmj.com/content/29/2/63.abstract N2 - This special edition is dedicated to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which has become a highly significant concern for governments and healthcare providers globally.AMR threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi, and many countries have adopted strategies to address AMR.1 There were an estimated 4.95 million (3.62–6.57) deaths associated with bacterial AMR in 2019,2 and AMR is predicted to cause 10 million global deaths annually by 2050 at a cost of US$100 trillion.3 The recent SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has, to date, caused 5.7 million global deaths since the first cases were identified.Putting AMR in clinical context, a hospital study found between 38.7% and 50.9% of pathogens causing surgical site infections and 26.8% of pathogens causing infections after chemotherapy were already resistant to standard prophylactic antibiotics in the USA.4 This has worrying implications for patients attending for surgery and cancer in the future.There are two main types of AMR: inherent and acquired.SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is a good example of inherent resistance as a viral pathogen emerging with … Correspondence to Professor Jonathan Cooke, Manchester Pharmacy School, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; jonathan.cooke{at}manchester.ac.uk ER -