WHONET: removing obstacles to the full use of information about antimicrobial resistance.

A rich store of detailed information about antimicrobial resistance is at each medical center in paper files inaccessible to analysis or in electronic files too diverse to support a common analytical software. WHONET puts that information on a personal computer at each center in a file code and format that is the same at all centers, so that one software can then fully analyze the files at any center or those merged from many centers. The software monitors the complex matrix of interrelationships between all the measurements of resistance to antimicrobials of tested isolates of each species and of control strains. Differences at a center over time or between centers reflect differences in test performance or in the prevalence of specific resistant strains, which may be tracked. The software helps workers who are knowledgeable about resistance, infection control and clinical use of antimicrobials at any center to control test quality and integrate the management of resistance there. Their ongoing monitoring and experience locally also builds the quality and interpretation of the files merged from many centers.