The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been taking a lot of heat lately due to lapses in safety procedures, and Director Tom Frieden is now working to improve procedural measures, acceptance of responsibility, and transparency of information.
On Tuesday, Frieden spoke at a National Press Club (NPC) luncheon and addressed a number of issues including the CDC's safety procedure lapses, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS virus), and the dramatic increase of measles cases in the United States. However, the topic that was most alarming was antimicrobial resistance.
Dr. Frieden, the CDC director since 2009, spoke in front of NPC members as well as others present at the event, warning of the dangers of antimicrobial resistance, or antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He said that the global community must be more aware of the issue because these ordinary disease-causing bacteria can be the result of the 'next pandemic.' By enacting stricter prevention methods, medical settings across the world can decrease the presence of such bacteria.
"Anti-microbial resistance has the potential to harm or kill anyone in the country, undermine modern medicine, to devastate our economy and to make our health care system less stable," said Friden, also acknowledging that antibiotic resistance costs $20 billion annually in the US. "What we have to ensure is that though human error may be inevitable, we should do everything in our power to make sure that ... there will not be human harm," he added in this USA Today article.
Frieden specifically mentioned the bacteria called CRE, or Carbapanen-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. They're a family of germs that are difficult to treat and possess high levels of resistance to antibiotics, and according to the CDC, they're presence in US healthcare facilities has been increasing. Almost all CRE infections occur in people who are receiving serious medical care because the bacteria are mainly transmitted from person-to-person through the hands of health care workers. Frieden says that doctors, nurses, hospital and public health leaders need to work together in order to decrease such infections.
There are a number of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites that are resistant to antibiotics and there's only so much that can be done, but Frieden urged that the world needs to be more careful and prudent in reducing avoidable incidents where such diseases and infections can spread.
You can read more about antimicrobial resistance on the CDC website.
