Hospitals, Policy

Obama addresses his plan to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Yesterday we discussed the pros and cons of President Obama’s plan  to tackle the pressing […]

Yesterday we discussed the pros and cons of President Obama’s plan  to tackle the pressing issue of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from critics, which causes 2 million illnesses each year in the United States and 23,000 deaths.

Today, the announcement was made officially, and the president has commented on the issue at hand.

“There are parts of this plan that we can implement on our own right now, and wherever we can act without Congress, we will. But to get the whole job done, we need Congress to step up,” Obama said in an interview with WebMd.

With that effort in mind, Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), spoke this week to members of Congress this week and urged them to fund the program that would end up costing $1.2 billion.

“The risk is that we could be in a post-antibiotic era,” Frieden said in an interview with The Hill. “I think there is clear bipartisan support for doing more for antibiotic resistance.”

Approaching resolution with this issue will involve addressing misuse of antibiotics for people and in animals, and it will mean taking a closer look at strengthening  infection-control practices by healthcare providers.

“We’re seeing an increase in drug-resistant organisms that are affecting every community and getting worse and worse and are at risk, really to undermine much of modern medicine,” Frieden said.

This is the first plan set out to face this increasingly difficult issue. The Hill pointed out what the plan entails.

With the new dollars, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would begin developing new antibiotics and tests while the Department of Agriculture would begin reducing irresponsible use of antibiotics in livestock.

The new guidelines will likely put heavy pressure on the agriculture industry to reduce antibiotic use, though administration officials said they have not yet set reduction targets for farms.

The newly released plan is the result of months-long discussions by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Oversight of the efforts will now be handed off to the newly created Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, which will include up to 30 members managed by HHS.

 

 

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