Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T02:21:46.796Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Emergence of Antimicrobial Resistance as a Public Matter of Concern: A Swedish History of a “Transformative Event”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Hedvig Gröndal
Hedvig Gröndal*
Affiliation:
Upsala University, Sweden E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Argument

This article examines how antimicrobial resistance (AMR) came to be constituted as a matter of public concern in Sweden in conjunction with the development of an inter-professional organization called Strama, founded to promote rational prescription of antibiotics. An outbreak of penicillin-resistant pneumococci in the mid-1990s was crucial for this development, because it brought attention to AMR as an urgent public threat. This outbreak fuelled the constitution of AMR as caused by consumption of antibiotics and as a matter of disease control. As a consequence, Strama was able to mobilize the Swedish health officers responsible for disease control. The outbreak is conceptualized as a “transformative event” – an event that makes an issue and its associated risks concrete and urgent. Transformative events play the crucial role of expediting the transformation of issues into matters of public concern.

Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , December 2018 , pp. 477 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Abraham, Edward, and Chain, Ernst. 1940. “An Enzyme from Bacteria Able to Destroy Penicillin.” Nature 146 (3713):837.Google Scholar
Alestig, Kjell, Borres, Magnus, Ek, Elisabeth, Fredlund, Hans, et al. 1996. “Penicillinresistenta pneumokocker: Stäng inte daghemmen för de friska barnen [Penicillin Resistant Pneumococci: Don't close the Day Care Centres for the Healthy Children].” Läkartidningen 93 (24):2356–2357.Google Scholar
Asdal, Kristin. 2008. “On Politics and the Little Tools of Democracy: A Down-to-Earth Approach.” Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory 9 (1):11–26.Google Scholar
Asdal, Kristin. 2014. “From Climate Issue to Oil Issue: Offices of Public Administration, Versions of Economics, and the Ordinary Technologies of Politics.” Environment and Planning A 46 (9):2110–2124.Google Scholar
Asdal, Kristin. 2015. “What Is the Issue? The Transformative Capacity of Documents.” Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory 16 (1):74–90.Google Scholar
Asdal, Kristin, and Marres, Noortje. 2014. “Performing Environmental Change: The Politics of Social Science Methods.” Environment and Planning A 46 (9):2055–64.Google Scholar
Bonk, Mathias Bernhard. 2015. Responses to the Antimicrobial Resistance Threat: A Comparative Study of Selected National Strategies and Policies. Swiss Federal Office of Public Health.Google Scholar
Bowker, Geoffrey C., and Slota, Stephen C.. 2017. “How Infrastructures Matter.” In Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (4th Edition), edited by Felt, Ulrike, Fouché, Rayvon, Miller, Clark, and Smith-Doerr, Laurel, 529–554. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bud, Robert. 2007. Penicillin: Triumph and Tragedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bäck, Erik, and Niklasson, Per-Magnus. 1972. “Antibiotika: Bruk och missbruk [Antibiotics. Use and Misuse].” Läkartidningen 69 (36):3996–3999.Google Scholar
Callon, Michel. 1984. “Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St Brieuc Bay.” The Sociological Review 32:196–233.Google Scholar
Christenson, Brith, Ryd, Gun, and Axelsson, Göran. 1994. “Barn med multiresistenta pneumokocker: avhåll bärarna från daghemsvistelse [Children with Multiresistant Pneumococci. Restrain Carriers from Day Care].” Läkartidningen 91 (48):4545–4547.Google Scholar
Ekdahl, Karl, and Kamme, Carl. 1994. “Increasing Resistance to Penicillin in Streptococcus Pneumoniae in Southern Sweden.” Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases 26 (3):301–305.Google Scholar
Ekdahl, Karl, Hansson, Hans Bertil, Mölstad, Sigvard, Söderström, Margareta, Walder, Mats, and Persson, Kristina. 1998. “Limiting the Spread of Penicillin-Resistant Streptococcus Pneumoniae: Experiences from the South Swedish Pneumococcal Intervention Project.” Microbial Drug Resistance 4 (2):99–105.Google Scholar
Ericsson, Hans. 1960. “Rational Use of Antibiotics in Hospitals: Studies on Laboratory Methods and Discussion of the Biological Basis for their Clinical Application.” Scandinavian Journal of Clinical & Laboratory Investigation, Supplement, vol. 50. Oxford: Published for Medisinsk fysiologisk forenings forlag by Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, Gösta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 2014. Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance in Europe 2014. Annual Report of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net). Stockholm: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.Google Scholar
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 2015. Summary of the Latest Data on Antibiotic Consumption in the EU. Stockholm: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.Google Scholar
Folkhälsomyndigheten. 2014. Svenskt arbete mot antibiotikaresistens: Verktyg, arbetssätt och erfarenheter [Swedish Work on Containment of Antibiotic Resistance. Tools, Methods and Experiences]. Stockholm: FolkhälsomyndighetenGoogle Scholar
Hambraeus, Anna, Kahlmeter, Gunnar, Malmborg, Anna-Stina, and Nyström, Bertil. 2007. “Developments in the Recent Past: Hospital Hygiene and Antimicrobials.” APMIS 115 (5):409–414.Google Scholar
Hartvig, Per, and Nordbring, Folke. 1979. “Var rädd om antibiotikamiljön! [Take Care of the Antibiotic Milieu!].” Läkartidningen 76 (50):4630–4633.Google Scholar
Hilgartner, Stephen. 2000. Science on Stage: Expert Advice as Public Drama. Writing Science. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Hobæk and Kveim Lie (forthcoming) “Less is more: Norwegian drug regulation, antibiotic policy and the ‘need clause’.”Google Scholar
Jasanoff, Sheila, ed. 2004. States of Knowledge: The Co-Production of Science and the Social Order. International Library of Sociology. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jonsson, Marianne, Rutberg, Lars, and Tunevall, Gösta. 1972. “R-faktorbetingad antibiotikaresistens hos Gram-negativa stavar i Sverige [R-factor related Antibiotic Resistance in Gram-negative Rods].” Läkartidningen 69 (37):4105–4108.Google Scholar
Kalin, Mats. 1994. “Antibiotikaresistens hos pneumokocker: Hotfull utveckling i allt fler länder [Antibiotic Resistance in Pneumococci: Threatening Development in more and more Countries].” Läkartidningen 91 (22):2219–2222.Google Scholar
Kallings, Lars-Olof. 1982. “Världsomfattande missbruk av antibiotika [Global misuse of antibiotics].”Läkartidningen 79 (10):873–875.Google Scholar
Kamme, Carl, and Mölstad, Sigvard 1994. ”Kollektiva böter för överförskrivning?: Tysk modell för minskad mängd antibiotika [Collective Fines for Over-prescription?: German Model for Decreasing the Amount of Antibiotics].” Läkartidningen 91 (47):4366–4371.Google Scholar
Kveim, Anne Lie. 2014. “Producing Standards, Producing the Nordic Region: Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing, from 1950–1970.” Science in Context 27 (2):215–248.Google Scholar
Landecker, Hannah. 2016. “Antibiotic Resistance and the Biology of History.” Body & Society 22 (4):19–52.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. 1983. “Give Me a Laboratory and I Will Raise the World.” In Science Observed. Perspectives on the Social Study of Science, edited by Knorr-Cetina, Karin and Mulkay, Mike, 141–170. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. 1987. Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. 1990. “Technology Is Society Made Durable.” The Sociological Review 38 (S1):103–131.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. 1993. The Pasteurization of France. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. 1999. Pandora's hope: essays on the reality of science studies. Cambridge: Harvard University press.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. 2005a. “From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik.” In Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy, edited by Latour, Bruno and Weibel, Peter, 14–41. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. 2005b. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. 2007. “Turning Around Politics.” Social Studies of Science 37 (5):811–820.Google Scholar
Law, John, and Mol, Annemarie. 2001. “Situating Technoscience: An Inquiry into Spatialities.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 19 (5):609–621.Google Scholar
Lennholm, Bo. 1993. “Samtal med statsepidemiolog Margareta Böttiger: Smittskyddsarbete genom fem årtionden [Conversation with State Epidemiologist Margareta Böttiger: Disease Control Efforts During Five Decades].” Läkartidningen, 90 (41):3531–3534, 3539–3540.Google Scholar
Lindskog, Rolf, and Sundqvist, Göran. 2011. “Transboundary Air Pollution Policy in Transmission.” In Governing the Air: The Dynamics of Science, Policy, and Citizen Interaction, edited by Lindskog, Rolf and Sundqvist, Göran, 3–35. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Magnussen, Jon, Vrangbaek, Karsten, Richard, B. Saltman and Martinussen, Pål E.. 2009. “Introduction: The Nordic Model in Health Care.” In Nordic health care systems, edited by Magnussen, Jon, Vrangbaek, Karsten and Saltman, Richard B., 3–20. Berkshire: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policy.Google Scholar
Marres, Noortje. 2005a. “Issues Spark a Public into Being. A Key but Often Forgotten Point of the Lippmann-Dewey Debate.” In Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy, edited by Latour, Bruno and Weibel, Peter, 208–217. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Marres, Noortje. 2005b. No Issue, No Public: Democratic Deficits after the Displacement of Politics. Vol. 2005. Amsterdam: Ipskamp Printpartners.Google Scholar
Marres, Noortje. 2006. “Net-work is Format work: Issue networks and the Sites of Civil Society Politics.” In Reformatting Politics: Information Technology and Global Civil Society, edited by Dean, Jodi, Anderson, John, and Lovink, Gert, 3–18. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marres, Noortje. 2007. “The Issues Deserve More Credit.” Social Studies of Science 37 (5):759–780.Google Scholar
Mölstad, Sigvard, Erntell, Mats, Hanberger, Håkan, Melander, Eva, Norman, Christer, Skoog, Gunilla, Lundborg, Cecilia Stålsby, Söderström, Anders, Torell, Erik, and Cars, Otto. 2008. “Sustained Reduction of Antibiotic Use and Low Bacterial Resistance: 10-Year Follow-up of the Swedish Strama Programme.” The Lancet Infectious Diseases 8 (2):125–132.Google Scholar
Mölstad, Sigvard, Löfmark, Sonja, Carlin, Karin, Erntell, Mats, et al. 2017. “Lessons Learnt During 20 Years of the Swedish Strategic Programme against Antibiotic Resistance.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 95 (11):764.Google Scholar
Nilsson-Ehle, Inger, and Cars, Otto. 1994. “Skärp indikationerna för makrolidbehandling: överanvändning en ekologisk risk [Sharpen the Indicators for Treatment with Macrolides: Overuse an Ecological risk].” Läkartidningen 91 (47):4363–4365.Google Scholar
Nordbring, Folke. 1975. Antibiotika och kemoterapi: en praktisk handledning [Antibiotics and Chemotherapy. A Practical Guide]. Stockholm: AVE Geber.Google Scholar
Norrby, Ragnar. 1985. “Mer än varannan svensk får antibiotika [More than Every Second Swede Gets Antibiotics].” Läkartidningen 82 (8):596–599.Google Scholar
Norrby, Ragnar. 1994. “Pneumokockinfektioner: Är vi påväg tillbaka till pre-antibiotikaeran? [Pneumococci infections. Are we returning to the pre-antibiotic era?]” Läkartidningen 199 92 (22):2215–6.Google Scholar
Persson, Kristina. 2005. “Smittskydd [Disease Control].” In Strama 10 år. 13. Stockholm: Strama.Google Scholar
Podolsky, Scott H. 2015. The Antibiotic Era: Reform, Resistance, and the Pursuit of a Rational Therapeutics: JHU Press.Google Scholar
Ravnskov. Ulf and Carl Gunnarsson. 1976. “Medikaliserat samhälle [Medicalized Society?].” Läkartidningen 73 (14):1298.Google Scholar
Sjöqvist, Folke, Dahl, Ulf Bergman Marja-Liisa, Gustafsson, Lars and Hensjö, Lars-Olov. 2002. “Drug and Therapeutics Committees: a Swedish Experience.” WHO Drug information 16 (3):207.Google Scholar
Socialdepartementet. 2016. Svensk strategi för arbetet mot antibiotikaresistens [Swedish Strategy to Combat Antibiotic Resistance]. Socialdepartementet.Google Scholar
Socialdepartementet. 2005. Strategi för ett samordnat arbete mot antibiotikaresistens och vårdrelaterade sjukdomar [Strategy for Coordinated Efforts against Antibiotic Resistance Health Care Related Illness]. Regeringens proposition 2005/06:50.Google Scholar
Socialstyrelsen, Smittskyddsinstitutet, and Smittskyddsläkarföreningen. 1997. Pneumokocker Med Nedsatt Känslighet För Penicillin: Bakgrund Och Analys Av Situationen I Sverige 1995 [Pneumococci with Reduced Sensitivity for Penicillin. Background and Analysis of the Situation in Sweden 1995]. Stockholm: Socialstyrelsen.Google Scholar
Socialstyrelsen. 2000. Förslag till svensk handlingsplan mot antibiotikaresistens [Proposal for Swedish Action Plan Against Antibiotic Resistance]. Stockholm: Socialstyrelsen.Google Scholar
Soller, Barbro. 1971. Djurfabriken [The Animal Factory]. Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren.Google Scholar
Sundin, Jan. 2005. “Folkhälsa och folkhälsopolitik [Public Health and Public Health Politics].” In Svenska folkets hälsa i historiskt perspektiv [The Health of the Swedish Population in a Historical Perspective], edited by Sundin, Jan, Högstedt, Christer, Lindberg, Jakob and Moberg, Henrik, 363–460. Stockholm: Statens folkhälsoinstitut.Google Scholar
Timmermans, Stefan, and Berg, Marc. 1997. “Standardization in Action: Achieving Local Universality through Medical Protocols.” Social Studies of Science 27 (2):273–305.Google Scholar
WHO. 2014. Antimicrobial Resistance: Global Report on Surveillance 2014. Available at http://www.who.int/drugresistance/documents/surveillancereport/en/ last accessed, October 22, 2018.Google Scholar
WHO. 2015. Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. Available at http://www.who.int/antimicrobial-resistance/publications/global-action-plan/en/ last accessed October 22, 2018.Google Scholar
Wilhelmson, Birgit. 1994. “Socialstyrelsen om pneumokockerna: Resistensproblem kan bemästras. Plan mot spridning kommer [The National Board on Health and Welfare: Problems with Antibiotic Resistance Can Be Controlled. Plan to Reduce the Spread is on its Way].” Läkartidningen 91 (48):4548.Google Scholar
Wilhelmson, Birgit. 1995. “Resistenta pneumokocker sprids i svenska daghem: Utestäng smittbärare, se över miljön [Resistant Pneumocci are Spread in Swedish Day Care Centers. Keep Out Carriers, Evaluate the Environment].” Läkartidningen 92 (32/33):2885–2887.Google Scholar
Wilhelmson, Birgit. 1997a. “PC-Resistenta Pneumocker minskar i Skåne: Allt färre barn får antibiotika–en orsak? [Penicillin-resistant Pneumococci is Decreasing in Skåne. Fewer Children Receives Antibiotics–a Reason?]” Läkartidningen 94 (16):1511–1513.Google Scholar
Wilhelmson, Birgit. 1997b. “Strama - med grepp om antibiotikaresistens: Högt tempo i lokala aktiviteter ger resultat [Strama-with a Firm Grip on Antibiotic Resistance. High Speed in Local Activities Gives Result].” Läkartidningen 94 (16):1506–1511.Google Scholar
Wood, Martin. 1998. “The Politicization of Antimicrobial Resistance.” Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases 11 (6):649–652.Google Scholar

Newspaper articles referred to

Svenska Dagbladet, 27 January 1994, “Läkare varnar för antibiotika [Doctors Warn Against Antibiotics].”Google Scholar
Svenska Dagbladet, 22 February 1994, “Resistent bakterie ovanlig i Sverige [Resistant Bacterium Unusual in Sweden].”Google Scholar
Aftonbladet, 22 February 1994, “Undvik antibiotika [Avoid Antibiotics].”Google Scholar
Aftonbadet, 1 March 1994, “‘Dödsbakterien’ stänger sjukhus [‘Death Bacterium’ Closes Down Hospital].”Google Scholar
Aftonbladet, 3 March 1994, “Vanliga bakterier kan bli dödliga [Common Bacteria Could Become Lethal].”Google Scholar
Dagens Nyheter, 20 March 1994, “Örat kan vänta. Många barn får antibiotika i onödan [The Ear Can Wait. Many Children Receives Unnecessary Antibiotics].”Google Scholar
Dagens Nyheter, 5 June 1994, “Snart biter ingenting. . .‘Nygamla’ sjukdomar dödliga hot igen. [Soon nothing will work. . .‘obsolete’ diseases deadly threats again].”Google Scholar
Dagens Nyheter, 30 October 1994, “Medicin biter inte på farlig bakterie [Medicine Useless Against Dangerous Bacterium].”Google Scholar
Expressen, 31 October 1994, “Superbakterien är redan här [The Super Bacterium is Already Here].”Google Scholar
Aftonbladet, 31 October 1994, “Hur skyddar jag mitt barn från bakterien? [How Can I Protect My Child From the Bacterium?].”Google Scholar
Aftonbladet, 5 November 1994, “Tre barn sjuka av superbakterien [Three Children Ill from the Super Bacterum].”Google Scholar
Sydsvenska Dagbladet, 8 March 1995, “Farlig bakterie på flera daghem i Lund: Intensifierad provtagning i kampanj mot multiresistenta pneumokocker [Dangerous Bacterium in Several Day Care centers in Lund. Intensified Testing in Efforts of Controlling Multi-resistant Bacterium].”Google Scholar
Aftonbladet, 8 March 1995, “Superbakterien sprids på daghem [Super Bacterium Spread in Child Care Centres].”Google Scholar
Expressen, 26 September 1995, “För mycket penicillin är fel medicin [Too Much Penicillin is the Wrong Medicine].”Google Scholar