The major goal of the Dutch Working Party on Antibiotic Policy (Dutch acronym is SWAB) is to contribute to the containment of the development of antimicrobial resistance and of the expanding costs of the use of antibiotics. This is achieved by optimizing the use of antibiotics by means of guideline development, education and antibiotic resistance surveillance.

News

• Recently the Dutch Working Party on Antibiotic Policy (SWAB) and the Dutch Working Party on Infection Prevention (WIP) received the APUA 2008 leadership award for their work on antibiotic use improvement and infection control in the Netherlands. At the ceremony the two workingparties presented a videofilm. You may view the video in your browser.
  View video
  
• Thursday 15 May 2008 the ninth SWAB symposium was held in hotel Karel V, Utrecht. A new report on consumption of antimicrobial agents and antimicrobial resistance in the Netherlands, NethMap 2008, was presented during the symposium.
  download program  to NethMap 2008
• Since 2005 MRSA has been found in animal husbandry (a.o. pigs and calves) in The Netherlands. Here are a few useful links to publications on this subject:
  Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Pig Farming
  Community-acquired MRSA and pig-farming
  High prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in pigs
  Emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus of animal origin in humans
  Methicillin-resistant and -susceptible Staphylococcus aureus sequence type 398 in pigs and humans