CDC Addresses Growing Threat of Antibiotic Resistance

November 1, 2013- And the Consumers Union knows just what to do about it.

The Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, is calling for a multi-prong response in the nation's fight against antibiotic resistance.

The action is based upon a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stressing that the over-use of antibiotics is the “single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world.”

In a September 16, 2013 blog post entitled "CDC Report Shows Growing Threat Posed By Antibiotic Resistance," consumersunion.org calls for the following actions:

More judicious use of antibiotics by doctors

The story quotes John Santa, M.D., M.P.H., medical director of Consumer Reports Health, "The widespread use and abuse of antibiotics is making these critical medications less effective for treating infectious diseases." Doctor Santa warns, "Failing to curb the unnecessary use of antibiotics will result in catastrophic consequences for public health."

One-half of all prescribed antibiotics are given unnecessarily or improperly administered, according to the CDC's "Threat Report 2013 - Antibiotic resistance threats in the United States, 2013."

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and other medical groups have identified the common cold, mild sinusitis, and eye and ear infections as common conditions for which antibiotics are over-used.

A drastic reduction in the routine use of antibiotics in healthy livestock

The Consumers Union blog post said, "Some 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used not on humans but on animals — mostly livestock that aren’t sick." They continue to urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Congress to restrict antibiotic use to treat only sick animals.

Major supermarkets end the sale in their stores of any meat or poultry that comes from animals routinely fed antibiotics for growth promotion or disease prevention

Consumers Union asked Trader Joe's to lead the way to address this public health crisis. The story quotes Jean Halloran, director of Food Policy Initiatives for Consumers Union, "We shouldn’t waste antibiotics to make animals grow faster or to prevent disease." She added, "Humans don’t take antibiotics to prevent disease and neither should healthy farm animals."

More effective action by hospitals to protect patients from dangerous superbugs

The CDC estimates that 23,000 Americans die annually directly from antibiotic-resistant infections and that health care-acquired infections account for the majority of those deaths. And certainly, many more deaths are caused by complications from such infections.

The story quotes Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumers Union’s Safe Patient Project, "Most deaths from antibiotic resistant infections are from infections picked up by patients while they are being treated in the hospital or other health care settings.”

"The majority of these infections could be prevented if hospitals did a better job consistently following protocols proven to protect patients from these deadly risks."

The prevention steps include strict hand washing, more careful preparation of surgical rooms and better methodologies for sterile use of catheters and other devices.

Read the full Consumers Union post here. The CDC Threat Report is available here

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