''Overused Antibiotics are Becoming Ineffective''
"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 info''Southeast paying health price for high antibiotic use''
"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 infoTest Your Knowledge of Antibiotics
Nearly 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 infoRecent Outbreak Stresses Need for New Antibiotics
Following 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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''Fighting Superbugs''
"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''NIH Superbug Outbreak Highlights Lack of New Antibiotics''
"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 info''An Uncontrollable Outbreak''
''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 last year. It infected 17 patients and killed 6 of them. 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."
More infoRecent Outbreak Stresses Need for New Antibiotics
On 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 info''‘Superbug’ Stalked NIH Hospital Last Year, Killing Six''
An outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as Klebsiella pneumoniae killed six patients at the clinical center at the National Institutes of Health in 2011. The outbreak was not made public until Wednesday, when NIH researchers published a scientific paper describing the advanced genetic technology they deployed to trace the outbreak.
More info''Will Humans Lose the Battle With Microbes?''
Bacteria have become increasingly resistant to the drugs we've come to rely on. Only a concerted effort can avert a public health crisis.
More info''Surveillance may help doctors decide to prescribe''
"A new study suggests that using electronic health records to tell doctors what infections are going around in their community could help cut down on unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions." More info
A Healthy Dose of Bipartisanship
Passed by Congress on June 26 and signed by President Obama on July 9, the FDA Safety and Innovation Act will increase inspections of foreign manufacturers that supply 80 percent of the ingredients in our pharmaceuticals, putting American companies on the same footing as their foreign competitors. In addition, it requires drug makers to hold their suppliers to high standards.
More info''Resistance to antibiotics is becoming a crisis''
In an editorial stressing the need for new antibiotics, the Washington Post cites that some bacteria have become resistant to multiple antibiotics while the pipeline of new drugs is drying up. But a promising step by Congress could give pharmaceutical companies the incentive they need.
More infoPew Applauds Enactment of User Fee Legislation, Urges Its Swift Implementation
President Barack Obama today signed into law the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, which supports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s drug and device reviews and includes other measures to benefit patients.
More info''Next steps to thwart 'superbugs'''
"An old saying goes, you don't miss your water till your well runs dry. When it comes to antibiotics, we're not only running out of water but there are no rain clouds on the horizon. The overuse and underdevelopment of these drugs have brought us close to the brink of a world without cures for deadly infections."
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Allan Coukell
Nicole Mahoney
