WHONET

in
MICROBIOLOGY
Dr.T.V.Rao MD
What is WHONET ?
 WHONET is a free
software developed
by the WHO
Collaborating Centre
for Surveillance of
Antimicrobial
Resistance for
laboratory-based
surveillance of
infectious diseases
and antimicrobial
resistance.
“If you cannot
measure it,
you cannot
improve it”
Lord Kelvin, 1824-1907
 WHONET contains Complete
Laboratory Information System

 Clinical reporting
 return results to clinicians
 permanent record

 Laboratory management system

 preliminary and final results
 guide technologists through needed laboratory tests
 billing and financial accounting

 Data analysis
 Documentation
 WHONET is a Windows-
based database
software developed for
the management of
microbiology laboratory
data and the analysis of
antimicrobial
susceptibility test
results.
 All the Documented results are
analyzed in WHONET
 The heart of WHONET
is a software package
designed to collect the
results of antibiotic
resistance tests.
Researchers /
Microbiologists feed
the results into a
computer and look for
trends
WHONET: is A Microbiology
Data Management Tool
 Enhance the use of
locally-generated data
 Antimicrobial policy,
infection control
 Laboratory quality
assurance

 Promote collaborations
 National and
International networks
WHONET Creates data from your
Documentations
WHONET is used to support
surveillance activities in the
countries indicated in Red.
 WHONET A Global
networking Programme
 WHONET is currently used in over 90 countries,
managing data from over 1300 laboratories.
 Hospital and public health laboratories
 Food and veterinary laboratories
 Reference and research laboratories

 Data collections
 Routine laboratory data
 Special surveys and research protocols
WHONET analytical tools facilitate
 The understanding of the local
epidemiology of microbial populations;
The selection of antimicrobial agents;
The identification of hospital and
community outbreaks; The
recognition of quality assurance problems
in laboratory testing.
 WHONET
Runs on all Major operating systems
 The latest edition of
WHONET runs on
Microsoft Windows
(98, 2000, XP, Vista,
Windows 7) and
through Windows
emulators can be run
successfully on Linux
and Macintosh
computers.
 Software is Multilingual
 The software is multilingual.
Languages available at
present include: Bulgarian,
Chinese (simplified),
English, Estonian, French,
German, Greek, Indonesian,
Italian, Japanese,
Norwegian (Bokmål and
Nynorsk), Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish and Thai.
 Why we should adopt to
WHONET
 The WHONET program puts each laboratory's
data into a common code and file format at that
laboratory, either by serving as or by translating
from its own computer reporting system. It then
enables each medical center to analyze its files
in ways that help it monitor and manage
resistance locally and to merge them with files of
other centers for collaborative national or global
surveillance of resistance.
Growing importance of WHONET
 World over antimicrobial
resistance is a major public
health problem. The WHONET
software program puts each
laboratory data into a common
code and file format, which can
be merged for national or global
collaboration of antimicrobial
resistance surveillance
 WHONET Puts the data in order
 These tools enable any microbiology
laboratory to put its test results into a
database and conduct analyses to support
local infection control and antibiotic use.
Laboratories can also upload files created
by WHONET, to feed into national or other
multi-center surveillance networks and to
inform drug policy.
 Useful for routine reporting
and Analyses the Data
 WHONET is not a
complete laboratory
management system
but can be used for
simple clinical
reporting of results.
Software development has
concentrated on data
analysis, particularly of the
results of antimicrobial
susceptibility tests.
Epidemiological trends can
predicted from Data
 The analytic tools aid the
selection of antimicrobial
agents, the identification
of hospital outbreaks, and
the recognition of quality
control problems in the
laboratory. Review of
antimicrobial results also
permits characterization
of resistance
mechanisms and the
epidemiology of resistant
strains
 Use and Misuse of Antibiotics has
created Drug Resistance
 Genes expressing resistance to each antimicrobial agent
emerged after each agent became widely used. More
than a hundred such genes now spread selectively
through global networks of populations of bacteria in
humans or animals treated with those agents.
Information to monitor and manage this spread exists in
the susceptibility test results of tens of thousands of
laboratories around the world. The comparability of
those results is uncertain, however, and their
storage in paper files or in computer files with
diverse codes and formats has made them
inaccessible for analysis
 Principal goals of the software are:

 To enhance local
use of laboratory
data; and to
promote national
and international
collaboration
through the
exchange of data.
 The software consists of three
sections.
Section 1
 1) Data Entry. In addition to the routine
entry of susceptibility test results (disk
diffusion, MIC, and/or E-test), this program
permits printing, retrieval, and correction
of clinical records as well as immediate
feedback on test results. If data are
converted from an existing laboratory
system, for example with BACLINK, direct
entry of data into WHONET is
unnecessary.
 Section 2
 2) Data Analysis. Currently supported analyses include
listings and summaries of isolates by user-defined
criteria; tabulation of the percentages of resistant,
intermediate, and susceptible isolates by species; zone
diameter and MIC histograms; scatter plots of zone
diameter versus zone diameter or MIC versus MIC;
scatter plots of zone diameter versus MIC scatter plots
and the calculation of zone diameter/MIC regression
curves; listings and summaries of isolates by resistance
profile; and automated screening of the data for unusual
isolates.
 Section 3
 Configuration Program. This program
permits the user to enter and modify
laboratory-specific information such as
patient-care areas, antibiotics and
interpretive breakpoints, language, and
hardware.
 WHONET analytical tools facilitate:
the understanding of the local epidemiology
 To understanding of the local
epidemiology of microbial populations; the
selection of antimicrobial agents;
the identification of hospital and
community outbreaks; and the recognition
of quality assurance problems in
laboratory testing.
 WHONET can handle Bacteria,
Fungus, Parasite
 WHONET can handle
results from the
testing of bacteria,
fungi, and parasites.
WHONET does not
yet have Virological
tests incorporated,
but this is a priority
area of programming
in the upcoming year.
 Picks up Antibiograms and
analyses
 The heart of
WHONET is a
software package
designed to collect
the results of
antibiotic resistance
tests. Researchers
feed the results into a
computer and look for
trends.
Individual Microbial Infections can be
analyzed at regular intervals
Analyses the isolates by month and
location (MRSA)
Histograms can be created for
Individual Microbes
Scatterplot created for two
different Antibiotic
Amikacin vs. Gentamicin
 Data Created from Various
countreis can be Compared and
analyzed
Emerging resistant pattern of Drug resistance can
be identified early and compared with different
locations in Hospital
All antibiotic profiles at a click
 Uses of Microbiology
Data
 Laboratory quality improvement
 Laboratory testing
 Utilization of laboratory services by clinical
staff

 Infection control and outbreak preparedness

 Identification of new and problem pathogens
 Identification and investigation of outbreaks
 Uses of Microbiology Data
 Antimicrobial policy
 Trends in infections and resistance
 Characterization of cross-resistance
 Development of treatment guidelines

 Research
 New resistance mechanisms
 Risk factors for resistance

 Evaluation of interventions
With on line linking We can feed our
results to WHO surveillance system
 With the establishment of the Division of
Emerging and other Communicable
Diseases Surveillance and Control, WHO
will strengthen national and international
capacity in surveillance, prevention and
control of communicable diseases, in
particular those that represent new,
emerging and re-emerging public health
problems.
 Experience with WHONET
suggests
 The WHONET experience suggests that solid
drug resistance data can be collected and
analyzed in resource-constrained settings,
using core microbiology, if local laboratories are
given appropriate support. Strengthening these
laboratories is therefore a potentially cost-
effective contribution to both treating drug
resistant disease and preventing its further
spread.
 WHO thanks the individuals
globally and helps the Laboratories
 WHO is grateful to the
many individuals around
the world who contributed
translations of the
software. If you would like
to assist with additional
translations, please
contact the WHO
Collaborating Centre in
Boston.
Down load WHONET through
Hyperlink below

Click here to download the software

 You can back link the data you
already have
 Many laboratories in the world already have
computer systems for the recording of laboratory
test results. WHONET comes with the free
BacLink data conversion utility to facilitate the
transfer of data from existing laboratory
information systems into WHONET in order to
avoid the need for double data entry. BacLink,
also developed by the WHO Collaborating
Centre in Boston, is included and installed as
part of the standard WHONET package.
Desktop softwares Laboratory systems Laboratory
instruments
Excel Mysis
Access MIC systems
MEDITECH
EpiInfo Disk diffusion
ADBakt
readers

BacLink
Data conversion

WHONET Data
analysis
 Baclink can transfer data into
WHONET from:
 Common commercial
database and
spreadsheet software;
commercial susceptibility
test instruments for MIC
broth micro dilution and
disk diffusion readers
hospital and laboratory
information systems
through text files
 WHONET connects to the
World through WWW
 These tools enable any microbiology
laboratory to put its test results into a
database and conduct analyses to support
local infection control and antibiotic use.
Laboratories can also upload files created
by WHONET, to feed into national or other
multi-centre surveillance networks and to
inform drug policy. Such surveillance
programs are now in place in many
countries.
 WHONET Use in the World
 African Regional Office of WHO (AFRO)
 Algeria, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia

 Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of WHO (EMRO)

 Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia

 European Regional Office of WHO (EURO)

 Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom

 Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)

 Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
United States, Uruguay, Venezuela

 South-East Asian Regional Office of WHO (SEARO)

 India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand

 Western Pacific Regional Office of WHO (WPRO)

 China, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore, Taiwan, Viet Nam
Reducing the Antimicrobial resitance is
a great contribution to Medical
Profession
 The WHONET experience suggests that solid
drug resistance data can be collected and
analyzed in resource-constrained settings, using
core microbiology, if local laboratories are given
appropriate support. Strengthening these
laboratories is therefore a potentially cost-
effective contribution to both treating drug
resistant disease and preventing its further
spread.
 Long Term Goals of WHONET
usage
 The long term goals of these activities are to
strengthen the capacities of WHO member
countries to detect and contain the emergence
of major multi-drug resistant bacteria and to
improve standardization of interpretation of
antibiotic resistance data throughout the world.
This in turn will be supportive to all those
involved in antimicrobial drug research and
development and for WHO to advocate for it.
 World Antibiotic Resistance
Network
 WHO has also started
another program,
WARN (the World
Antibiotic Resistance
Network), to help
gather and analyze
the data generated by
the folks who use
WHONET.
WHONET serves Major challenges
in Drug Resistance
 Create Laboratory facilities for accurate
diagnosis and susceptibility testing
Disseminate information on local and
regional prevalence of resistance
Establish antibiotic policies, treatment
guidelines, and infection control policies,
with mechanisms for feedback and review.
WHONET Documentation at
Sri Deva Raj Urs Medical College,
Kolar INDIA
Created by Dr.T.V.Rao MD
for “e” learning Programme
Email
doctortvrao@gmail.com