FEAMR: A Database for Surveillance of Food and Environment-Associated Antimicrobial Resistance

Abstract

The rapid dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a serious health problem on an unprecedented global scale. AMR is predicted to kill more than 10 million people annually by 2050 leading to huge economic losses worldwide. Therefore, urgent action is required at the national as well as international levels to avert this looming crisis. Effective surveillance can play an important role in the containment of AMR spread by providing data to help determine AMR hotspots, predict an outbreak, maintain proper stewardship and propose immediate and future plans of action in this respect. Although many existing databases provide genetic and molecular information on AMR in microorganisms, there is no dedicated database of AMR from non-clinical samples. The FEAMR database is a one-of-its-kind database to provide manually collated and curated information on the prevalence of AMR in food and the environment. For designing the FEAMR webpage, Microsoft Visual Studio with HTML, CSS, ASP.NET, Bootstrap for the front-end and C# for the back-end were used. The FEAMR database is a free access resource (https://feamrudbt-amrlab.mu.ac.in/), accepting verified food- and environment-related AMR submissions from across the globe. To the best of our knowledge, it is probably the first database providing AMR-related surveillance data from non-clinical samples. It is designed from the ‘One Health Approach’ perspective to help in the containment of global AMR spread. Graphical Abstract: Flowsheet of steps for making FEAMR database 1. Research articles relating to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) were searched on the internet. 2. Data relating to AMR were retrieved from these articles and stored in an MS-Excel sheet. 3. The web pages of the FEAMR database (DB) were created using Microsoft Visual Studio (MVS) and its various tools. HTML, CSS, ASP.NET and Bootstrap were used for the front end and C# used for the back-end of the website. 4. The DB of FEAMR was created using MS SQL Server which was controlled by SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). 5. The data from the MS-Excel sheet in step 2 was stored in the SQL server and displayed on the web page using GridView tool of MVS and C#. The database created was then uploaded on the University of Mumbai (UoM) website, where it can be accessed by all users having the link to the DB (https://feamrudbt-amrlab.mu.ac.in/). [Figure not available: see fulltext.]