Will the Medicine Cabinet Be Empty When You or Your Child Need Life-Saving Antibiotics? (Slideshow)
Without urgent and aggressive action, more patients will be thrust back to a time when simple infections can be deadly. And, the loss of effective antibiotics will undermine treatment of infectious complications in patients with other diseases.
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
CDC works 24/7 to save lives and protect people. Part of that responsibility includes sounding the alarm about health threats.
Today, we are publishing a report about what happens when microbes outsmart our best drugs.
By our most minimal estimate, at least two million people per year in the United States get infections that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die as a result. For some microbes and some patients, our medicine cabinet is nearly empty and we can no longer treat patients.
This landmark report gives us the first snapshot of antibiotic resistance threats with the most impact on human health. Many numbers are new, and some existing, but this is the first time they have been put together and ranked to give an overall picture of antibiotic resistance in the United States.
Advertisement
Many people view antibiotic resistance as a problem that happens somewhere else -- other medical practices or facilities, other farms, other people.
This report shows that antibiotic resistance is happening here, in your community, in your healthcare facility, in your medical practice, and on the farms that feed us.
Advertisement
Most of the 18 microbes included in this report are common. Urgent threats include three bacteria: CRE or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Clostridium difficile, and drug-resistant gonorrhea.
Urgent Threats Require Urgent Action
Without urgent and aggressive action, more patients will be thrust back to a time when simple infections can be deadly. And, the loss of effective antibiotics will undermine treatment of infectious complications in patients with other diseases. Many medical advances -- joint replacements, organ transplants, cancer therapy, diabetes treatment, rheumatoid arthritis therapy -- depend on the ability to fight infections with antibiotics.
Advertisement
Until now, we've stayed one step ahead of disaster through the development of new drugs. Today, experts estimate that new drugs could be a decade or more away. That's 10 years of more lives lost because of drug-resistant infections. We can do better.
CDC Recommends Four Core Actions
First, prevent infections.
Second, track drug-resistant infections to focus prevention and control efforts, including through better diagnostic tests.
Third, use antibiotics responsibly. About half of antibiotic use in humans unnecessary or inappropriate.
And fourth, develop new drugs and tests to better detect and treat these infections.
Antibiotics are a precious national resource. Preserving them requires involvement of everyone who uses antibiotics: healthcare providers, healthcare leaders, the agriculture industry, manufacturers, policy makers, and patients.
Saving antibiotics won't be easy, but we now know how to prevent and reverse antibiotic resistance -- we just need to do it. There's still time. But not much time.
Current Antibiotic Threats in the U.S.
Advertisement
Support HuffPost
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high-quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions. That is why we are committed to providing deeply reported, carefully fact-checked news that is freely accessible to everyone.
Whether you come to HuffPost for updates on the 2024 presidential race, hard-hitting investigations into critical issues facing our country today, or trending stories that make you laugh, we appreciate you. The truth is, news costs money to produce, and we are proud that we have never put our stories behind an expensive paywall.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you’ll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.
An essential daily guide to achieving the good life
Subscribe to our lifestyle email.
Successfully Signed Up!
Realness delivered to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.