IDSA unveils ‘wish list’ of ways to reduce spread of superbug

February 2008

Leaders of the Infectious Diseases Society of America have launched a three-pronged strategy to address the growing public health and patient safety crisis of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.”

The strategy was outlined in a report titled “The Epidemic of Antibiotic-resistant Infections: A Call to Action to the Medical Community from the Infectious Diseases Society of America.” It was presented Dec. 13 at a meeting in Atlanta of federal policymakers and infectious diseases experts.

The IDSA report is intended to help guide the revision of the federal Action Plan, to influence congressional action on three IDSA-endorsed bills and to secure increased appropriations for federal infectious disease efforts.

The IDSA “wish list” of strategies calls for better federal coordination and leadership, greater attention to education, and significant new funding for U.S. and global antimicrobial resistance activities. The strategies should include prevention, control and monitoring of drug-resistant bugs in the United States and abroad.

“Resistance to antibiotics is inevitable,” said Brad Spellberg, MD, professor of medicine at UCLA Harbor Medical Center. “For us to have a chance to keep up with the epidemic of antibiotic resistant infections will require a significant investment of new resources, and a comprehensive and cooperative effort of federal officials, physicians, patients, health care facilities and drug and diagnostic manufacturers.”

IDSA officials also recommended new incentives to increase research and development of antibiotics, diagnostic tests and other high-priority infectious disease products vital to patient health and care. “Our success will depend on the partnerships we create, the resources brought to bear and the support we lend one another,” Spellberg said.

Infectious disease experts also called for an end to non-therapeutic use of antimicrobials in agriculture. Feeding food animals antibiotics to increase their growth rate undermines therapeutic value of critical antimicrobial medications, IDSA officials said. The United States lags behind other countries in its control of the use of antibiotics in food animals.

Pending legislation

Three IDSA-backed pieces of legislation are now before Congress. These include S.2313/H.R. 3697, a comprehensive “Strategies to Address Antimicrobial Resistance (STAAR) ACT,” and a bill to grant research and development of tax credits to manufacturers of critical infectious disease products (S. 2351/H.R. 4200). The “Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act” (S. 549/H.R. 962) is a measure aimed at phasing out the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in food animals.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus alone affects more than 94,000 people in the United States and kills an estimated 19,000 people each year, according to recent data. Researchers are concerned that MRSA may be transmissible to humans via livestock.

IDSA officials are also concerned about other drug-resistant superbugs that may emerge, including Escherichia coli, tuberculosis, Clostridium difficile, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter.

The IDSA report was issued during a federal meeting called by the CDC, the NIH and the FDA to update the federal Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance, which was issued in 2001.

The meeting included a panel of more than 60 medical, veterinary and infectious disease consultants to reshape and strengthen actions for antimicrobial resistance issues.

For more information:

• Strategies to address antimicrobialresistance Act. Infectious Diseases Society of America website. www.idsociety.org/STAARAct.