News

The 2025 Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Priority Pathogen list, published yesterday in PLOS One, was developed by AMR experts from PHAC and the Canadian AMR Surveillance System (CARSS) using nationally representative surveillance data from 2017 through 2022 and nine prioritization criteria that reflect the country's public health priorities. Prioritization criteria included incidence, trend (change in the proportion of resistant cases), mode of transmission, morbidity, mortality, treatability, and equity, which was newly added to the list to reflect level of exposure to resistant bacteria and barriers to treatment. Pathogens in the Tier 3 group (medium to low priority) include Clostridioides difficile, drug-resistant Salmonella, and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and Tier 4 (low priority) includes drug-resistant Campylobacter and drug-resistant Helicobacter pylori. A 'more inclusive' assessment of AMR threats The authors say a key finding is that 45% of the assessed AMR pathogens disproportionately affect populations experiencing social or economic marginalization and structural barriers to health," such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, the homeless, and refugees or migrants from conflict or disaster-affected regions."