Emergence of the superbug: antimicrobial resistance in the United States: hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United ... Congress, second session ... June 24, 2008

LC Number: KF26 .L27 2008n OCLC Number: (OCoLC)603812750 Subject: Drug resistance in microorganisms -- United States. Excerpt: ...r soldiers come home from Iraq and Afghanistan they may face yet another deadly threat, drug resistance strains of acinetobacter. There are numerous drug resistant organisms, some of which could be avoided with better infection control practices on the part of medical personnel and hospitals and even simple hand washing as CDC repeatedly suggests us to do. Our witness, Dr. Brennan, will elaborate on the issue of hospital-based infection control. It's clear we also need new antimicrobial agents which simultaneously move medical science forward. And make up for the ground lost to drug resistance. But, there are barriers to creating new antibiotics. One of these barriers simply is profitability. Except in a rare case, the antibiotics are short-term treatments which means they don't bring in as much revenue as those for chronic problems. We'll still hear from Dr. Eisenstein and Dr. Tollefson about some of the challenges we face in antibiotic development. We'll also hear from Dr. Tenover of the CDC, who will describe efforts there to track and combat antimicrobial resistance. Doctors Graham and Vogel will speak about the use of antimicrobials in animal feed, an issue that I worked on in the House almost a decade ago. Chairman Kennedy has been instrumental in raising the profile of this important issue. In my State of Ohio there were 12 outbreaks of MRSA last year. Ohioans contracted MRSA in health care settings, in the workplace, on sports team, in correctional facilities. I would like to relate the story of Dr. Froncie Gutman of Chagrin Falls, chairman of ophthalmology for 22 years at the Cleveland Clinic. In April of last year, Dr. Gutman came down with pneumonia. By the time he went to the hospital he was semi-conscious. He was given an antibiotic common in the treatment of bacterial pneum...