The Obama administration on Friday released a comprehensive five-year plan to fight the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Antibiotics serve a critical public health role in fighting human disease, but over prescribing has caused many to lose their effectiveness, making it harder to treat bacterial infections and perform a variety medical procedures, including chemotherapy, dialysis and organ transplants.
More than two million Americans develop antibiotic-resistant infections each year and about 23,000 die as a result. Ineffective antibiotics have to be replaced with new drugs and antibiotic alternatives are also needed in veterinary medicine.
The five-year plan released on Friday focuses on slowing the emergence and spread of resistant infections; strengthening bacterial surveillance efforts; developing new tests to quickly identify dangerous bacteria; developing new drugs to fight the so-called "superbugs," and working more closely with international partners to achieve these goals.
President Obama's fiscal year 2016 budget proposal would nearly double federal funding for the fight against antibiotic resistance to $1.2 billion.
In an interview published on the website, WebMD, President Obama said the new plan addresses the complex problem from multiple angles.
'It’s a good plan. Now we need to carry it out," President Obama said. "We can better protect our children and grandchildren from the reemergence of diseases and infections that the world conquered decades ago, but only if we work together, for as long as it takes."
Read The National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Comments