(RxWiki News) Antibiotics are lifesaving medicines used to treat bacterial infections. However, many bacteria are becoming resistant to these medicines, leaving patients with fewer treatment options. Now, the White House has entered the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order this Thursday that calls on government agencies to address antibiotic-resistant germs.
The White House strategy outlines three priorities: to prevent outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria; to make sure effective treatments remain available; and to detect newly resistant bacteria as they emerge.
"Discuss antibiotic resistance with your primary care doctor."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antibiotic-resistant infections are associated with 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths in the US each year.
"Few issues in public health today are as critical and time urgent as combating the growing threat of antibiotic resistance," US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, wrote in response to the President's order.
"Fighting antibiotic resistance is both a public health and national security priority," she wrote. "FDA has played a key role in the development of this important effort, and we already have made strides on many fronts to make sure that we have effective antibiotics for the future."
The CDC has deemed a number of resistant pathogens to be serious threats. These include carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), ceftriaxone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Clostridium difficile.
"Antibiotics are precious medicines that have saved millions of lives by treating infections caused by bacteria," Dr. Hamburg wrote. "But their misuse, and overuse, has serious health consequences and has contributed to antibiotic resistance — in which these drugs become less effective, or ineffective, against harmful bacteria."
According to Dr. Hamburg, the FDA has already been hard at work addressing antibiotic resistance through research, better antibiotic labeling and responsible use of antibiotics.
The President's plan calls for continuing and growing such efforts to achieve five main goals:
- Slow the emergence of resistant bacteria and prevent the spread of resistant infections. The Executive Order calls for "judicious use" of antibiotics in both health care and agricultural settings in order to slow the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and extend the effectiveness of antibiotics.
- Strengthen communication between public health, veterinary disease, food, and environmental sectors to improve detection and control of antibiotic resistance.
- Advance research and use of tools that can distinguish between viral and bacterial infections and know whether certain bacteria are likely to become resistant.
- Speed up the development of new antibiotics, other treatments and vaccines.
- Improve global teamwork to address antibiotic resistance.
"A successful strategy to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria will require effort and input from all involved groups, including from health care professionals and patients themselves," Dr. Hamburg wrote.
She added that the President's strategy will boost US efforts to better fight antibiotic resistance.