\item{flag_multiple_results}{logical to indicate whether a note should be printed to the console that probably more than one antibiotic code or name can be retrieved from a single input value.}
Use this function to determine the antibiotic code of one or more antibiotics. The data set \link{antibiotics} will be searched for abbreviations, official names and synonyms (brand names).
All entries in the \link{antibiotics} data set have three different identifiers: a human readable EARS-Net code (column \code{ab}, used by ECDC and WHONET), an ATC code (column \code{atc}, used by WHO), and a CID code (column \code{cid}, Compound ID, used by PubChem). The data set contains more than 5,000 official brand names from many different countries, as found in PubChem.
All these properties will be searched for the user input. The \code{\link[=as.ab]{as.ab()}} can correct for different forms of misspelling:
\itemize{
\item Wrong spelling of drug names (like "tobramicin" or "gentamycin"), which corrects for most audible similarities such as f/ph, x/ks, c/z/s, t/th, etc.
\item Too few or too many vowels or consonants
\item Switching two characters (like "mreopenem", often the case in clinical data, when doctors typed too fast)
\item Digitalised paper records, leaving artefacts like 0/o/O (zero and O's), B/8, n/r, etc.
The \link[=lifecycle]{lifecycle} of this function is \strong{maturing}. The unlying code of a maturing function has been roughed out, but finer details might still change. Since this function needs wider usage and more extensive testing, you are very welcome \href{https://github.com/msberends/AMR/issues}{to suggest changes at our repository} or \link[=AMR]{write us an email (see section 'Contact Us')}.
This package contains \strong{all ~550 antibiotic, antimycotic and antiviral drugs} and their Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) codes, ATC groups and Defined Daily Dose (DDD) from the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (WHOCC, \url{https://www.whocc.no}) and the Pharmaceuticals Community Register of the European Commission (\url{http://ec.europa.eu/health/documents/community-register/html/atc.htm}).
These have become the gold standard for international drug utilisation monitoring and research.
The WHOCC is located in Oslo at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and funded by the Norwegian government. The European Commission is the executive of the European Union and promotes its general interest.
\strong{NOTE: The WHOCC copyright does not allow use for commercial purposes, unlike any other info from this package.} See \url{https://www.whocc.no/copyright_disclaimer/.}
On our website \url{https://msberends.github.io/AMR} you can find \href{https://msberends.github.io/AMR/articles/AMR.html}{a comprehensive tutorial} about how to conduct AMR analysis, the \href{https://msberends.github.io/AMR/reference}{complete documentation of all functions} (which reads a lot easier than here in R) and \href{https://msberends.github.io/AMR/articles/WHONET.html}{an example analysis using WHONET data}. As we would like to better understand the backgrounds and needs of our users, please \href{https://msberends.github.io/AMR/survey.html}{participate in our survey}!