Antibiotic resistance - is resistance detected by surveillance relevant to predicting resistance in the clinical setting?

Local, regional, national and global surveillance initiatives have several important functions, which include identifying shifts in antibiotic resistance, detecting the emergence of new resistance mechanisms and monitoring the impact of changes made to empiric prescribing, infection control and public health guidelines. Although the need for surveillance is indubitable and its use in the treatment of individual patients important, it cannot unequivocally predict outcomes in patients with infections. Treatment regimens for individual patients with suspected or demonstrated infections should be developed following consideration of symptoms, laboratory findings and relevant medical history, and in the context of appropriate local and widespread antibiotic resistance trends.