Federal and provincial public health agencies are trailing in developing a comprehensive action plan to address the growing threat of drug-resistant infections, Canada’s auditor general says.

Michael Ferguson’s spring report, tabled on Tuesday, found a lack of co-ordination between national and provincial and territorial health agencies in creating a strategy to tackle the rise of antimicrobial resistance in recent years.

At a news conference, Ferguson said federal public health agencies, including the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada, must get provinces “on board” to tackle the growing health threat.

“But right now, given that most of the work is happening with the federal family, it’s hard to see how we’ll ever have a comprehensive, pan-Canadian strategy for many years to come,” Ferguson said.

Health experts say the overuse and misuse of antibiotic drugs are partially to blame for the rising threat of so-called “superbugs,” which are resistant to medication.

The report found public health agencies are lacking vital information on drug-resistant infection patterns, including at long-term care facilities and clinics, as well as among vulnerable populations.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Lynora Saxinger said in hospitals, physicians have seen “pretty significant increases” in multi-resistant bacteria over time, which is why there is substantial medical risk in not having an all-encompassing strategy to tackle the issue.

“The problem with not having a national plan is not being able to track how much antimicrobial resistance is evolving across the country, and not being able to develop an appropriate way to try to control it in areas of concern,” Saxinger told CTV’s Power Play Tuesday.

Health Minister Rona Ambrose said Tuesday that Ottawa has been working “behind the scenes” with provinces and territories, and has launched their own federal framework to deal with the growing threat.

“My hope is that raising the spectre of this challenge … in a national way, will help everyone recognize this is a public-health threat that we all have to address with a sense of urgency,” Ambrose said.

Saxinger said she’s encouraged by both the report and Ambrose’s remarks.

“There’s the federal co-ordination, and then there’s the provincial and territory carry-out, so this kind of brings more attention to where the various responsibilities lie, and I think that’s going to be important because we do need to have a pan-Canadian approach,” Saxinger said.

Within a national strategy, Saxinger says health officials should be better able to track antibiotic use “where use is out of line compared to similar situations elsewhere.

“You can then use that as a way in to start discussing, ‘well why is this use excessive in this area,’” she said.

Saxinger said appropriate diagnostic support, and developing guidelines with a “little bit of teeth” would also help guide understanding over a prescriber’s decision surrounding antibiotics.

“It can be hard to pick a restrained antibiotic when someone’s concerned that they have an infection, and they just want potentially the biggest and the best,” Saxinger said.

Beyond the hospital setting, the Univeristy of Alberta professor said there are a lot of antibiotics used in the community and in animal food production.

“So there’s a lot of different areas where antimicrobial resistance crosses a lot of boundaries.”

Released earlier this year, an action plan said Ottawa will address the importation of veterinary antibiotics, which farmers are allowed to do for use in animals, with very little oversight.

One of the recommendations in the AG report Tuesday was for Health Canada to determine whether agricultural use increases the risk of drug resistance in humans.

With files from The Canadian Press