The Obama Administration announced Sept. 18 a comprehensive set of new federal actions to combat the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and protect public health, and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) released a related report on “Combating Antibiotic Resistance.”
The discovery of antibiotics in the early 20th century fundamentally transformed medicine; antibiotics now save millions of lives each year in the U.S. and around the world, the White House said, yet bacteria repeatedly exposed to the same antibiotics can become resistant to even the most potent drugs. These so-called antibiotic-resistant bacteria can present a serious threat to public health, national security and the economy.
The Administration pointed to data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention that show antibiotic-resistant infections are associated with an additional 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses in the U.S. each year. Read More at Feedstuffs…