The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) was established in 1996. NARMS is a collaborative program of state and local public health departments and universities, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This national public health surveillance system tracks changes in the antimicrobial susceptibility of enteric (intestinal) bacteria found in ill people (CDC), retail meats (FDA), and food animals (USDA) in the United States. The NARMS program helps promote and protect public health by providing information about emerging bacterial resistance, how resistant infections differ from susceptible infections, and the impact of interventions designed to limit the spread of resistance. NARMS data are used by FDA to make regulatory decisions designed to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics for humans and animals.

Spotlight

• Twenty Years of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) - What Have We Learned So Far and What Is Next?
  A presentation by Patrick McDermott, Director of NARMS at Combating Antimicrobial Resistance: A One Health Approach to a Global Threat—A Workshop. The National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine. June 2017.
• NARMS 20th Anniversary Timeline
• NARMS Program Facts

NARMS News

December 11, 2020 - FDA Releases 2018 NARMS Integrated Summary and NARMS Now: Integrated Data Featuring Genomic Data and Predicted Resistance

August 18, 2020 - FDA Releases NARMS Strategic Plan, Announces October 2020 NARMS Virtual Public Meeting

November 22, 2019 - FDA Releases 2016-2017 NARMS Integrated Summary, Streamlines Reporting Format

September 14, 2018 - FDA Releases Five-Year Plan for Supporting Antimicrobial Stewardship in Veterinary Settings

November 14, 2017 - FDA Launches Resistome Tracker, an Interactive Research and Data Visualization Tool for Antibiotic Resistance Genes

October 23, 2017 - FDA Releases 2015 NARMS Integrated Report

September 20, 2017 - FDA, CDC, and USDA Announce 2017 Scientific Meeting of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System

November 18, 2016 - FDA Releases 2014 NARMS Integrated Report; Finds Measurable Improvements in Antimicrobial Resistance Levels

April 28, 2016 - FDA NARMS Retail Meat Interim Report for Salmonella Shows Encouraging Early Trends Continue; Includes Whole Genome Sequencing Data for the First Time

March 10, 2016 - FDA’s Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring Team Wins Government Award to Design Public Health Surveillance Mobile App

March 01, 2016 - NARMS Announces Grant Award Opportunity for Retail Meat Testing in the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS)