''The menace posed by germs resistant to powerful antibiotics was all too apparent when a deadly, drug-resistant form of pneumonia bacteria struck the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., last year. It infected 17 patients and killed 6 of them.
This episode is especially chilling because the center is one of the nation’s most sophisticated research hospitals. It imposed incredibly stringent isolation and sterilization procedures, yet even these failed to keep the germ from spreading.
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This disheartening episode shows again the importance of slowing the development of resistant strains by reducing rampant overuse of antibiotics — and of developing new, more effective antibiotics."
Nearly a year after the enactment of the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now Act, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released draft guidance for industry on developing antibacterial therapies for patients with unmet medical needs.
More infoAs multidrug-resistant infections have grown more prevalent, few new antibiotics are reaching the market. This is attributed, in part, to the economic and regulatory challenges associated with their development. Recently, stakeholders have endorsed a novel regulatory pathway to approve these lifesaving drugs for use in limited patient populations — namely those at highest risk and with few or no other options.
More info"As a nation, we need to exercise greater care with our use of antibiotics, in both humans and animals, so that these medications remain effective in treating serious bacterial infections."
More infoNearly nine in 10 Americans recognize that antibiotics are effective treatments for fighting bacterial infections like strep throat, but more than a third mistakenly believe the drugs are also appropriate treatments for viral infections such as the common cold. Test your antibiotics IQ and take the quiz.
More info"And a new survey out today from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows 79% of adults know they can harm their own health by taking unneeded antibiotics."
More info''Americans are not as smart about antibiotics and antibiotic resistance as they should be, a new poll shows. For instance, although almost 90 percent of Americans know that antibiotics are effective for treating bacterial infections, more than a third also erroneously believed the drugs can fight viral infections such as the common cold or the flu."
More infoNearly nine in 10 Americans recognize that antibiotics are effective treatments for fighting bacterial infections like strep throat, but more than a third mistakenly believe the drugs are also appropriate treatments for viral infections such as the common cold.
More infoFollowing the deadly superbug outbreak in 2011, a recent report published by the NIH indicates new antibiotics could help fight antibiotic resistant bacteria. Senior Officer of Pew's Antibiotics and Innovation Project Nicole Mahoney discusses the new report and the need for a comprehensive strategy to prevent superbug outbreaks.
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"One of the most urgent global public health problems is the increasing capability of bacteria to resist antibiotic drugs. The crisis of antimicrobial resistance is particularly acute in hospitals, where superbugs able to resist multiple drugs have spawned. More than 70 percent of the bacteria that cause hospital-related infections are already resistant to at least one type of antibacterial drug."
More info"As doctors battled a deadly, drug-resistant superbug last year, they turned to an antibiotic of last resort. But colistin, as it’s called, was discovered in 1949. Between 1945 and 1968, drug companies invented 13 new categories of antibiotics, said Allan Coukell, director of medical programs at the Pew Health Group. Between 1968 and today, just two new categories of antibiotics have arrived."
More infoOn August 22, researchers at the National Institute of Health released a scientific paper detailing the use of advanced genetic technology to trace a deadly infection, untreatable by nearly every antibiotic, that spread through the NIH’s Clinical Center last year.
More infoSince Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom began, many American servicemen and women have been infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. While our men and women in uniform increasingly survive severe wounds sustained in combat, their injuries leave them susceptible to life-threatening, hard-to-treat infections. Marine Lance Corporal Jonathan Gadsden’s story reflects the growing need for new antibiotics that can treat these dangerous diseases, against which most drugs are useless.
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