摘要：The Australian Group for Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) has played a unique role in surveillance ofantimicrobial resistance in Australia. It has a broad laboratory membership representing the majorteaching hospitals in all Australian capitals and more recently major private pathology laboratories inmost states. The use of an active surveillance strategy with standard methodology for collection andexamination of clinically significant isolates has produced data accurately reflecting the changingprevalence of antimicrobial resistance in major hospitals as well as the community. AGAR hasdocumented the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Australian hospitals in thelate 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Surveys of antimicrobial resistance in enterococci havemonitored the emergence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci as an important nosocomial pathogenin Australia. AGAR has also conducted major national surveys of resistance in Streptococcuspneumoniae, community isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae and in theEnterobacteriaceae. These and other activities have given AGAR a unique perspective on emergingpatterns of resistance in key pathogens in Australia. The recent extension of membership to includemore private pathology laboratories may provide the opportunity to conduct more representativecommunity based surveys
