Factors
that contribute to antibiotic resistance
- misuse and overuse of antibiotics in humans, animals and agriculture
- demand for antibiotics when antibiotics are not appropriate
- failure to finish an antibiotic prescription
- availability of antibiotics without a prescription in some countries
Penicillin: the First Miracle Drug
Alexander
Fleming, a Scottish scientist, is credited with discovering the
first antibiotic, penicillin. In 1928, he noticed that bacteria
could not survive on a plate that contained a mold commonly found
on bread. He went on to show that the effect was due to a diffusible
substance made by the mold. However, penicillin was not available
to the general public until the early 1940s when scientists learned
how to produce and purify large amounts of penicillin.
In fact, technically speaking, Fleming may have rediscovered a substance
that had been found before. In 1896, the French medical student
Ernest Duchesne showed antibiotic properties of the mold Penicillium,
but did not report a connection between the fungus and a substance
that had antibacterial properties. Penicillium was unknown
to the scientific community until Fleming discovered the phenomenon
and the substance, and named it penicillin.
In 1895, there was a report by an Italian researcher, Vincenzo Tiberio,
describing a natural substance from molds which had antibacterial
properties resembling penicillin. Yet another report describes a
professor at John Hopkins University in Baltimore who showed his
students an agar plate with a mold which inhibited bacterial growth.
(Levy, S.B. The Antibiotic Paradox. How Misuse of Antibiotics
Destroys Their Curative Powers. Perseus Books, 2002). So perhaps
others had seen and described the phenomenon, but Fleming was the
first to bring such a substance to wide scientific attention.
Patient Behaviors and Beliefs Regarding Antibiotic Use: Implications for Clinical Practice - Poster 1
Patient Behaviors and Beliefs Regarding Antibiotic Use: Implications for Clinical Practice - Poster 2
Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA) Consumer Fact Sheet on Free or Discounted Antibiotic Promotions
APUA
MRSA Survey Results
MRSA
Consumer Fact Sheet
A Report of the
Facts about Antibiotics in Animals and the Impact on Resistance
(FAAIR) Project
FULL REPORT-
The Need to Improve Antimicrobial Use in Agriculture
Ecological and Human Health Consequences
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/cid/34/s3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY- Global Antimicrobial Resistance Alerts
and Implications
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/430780
INTRODUCTION
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/432443
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY- Select Findings, Conclusions, and
Policy Recommendations
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/430781
APUA's
letter to the United States Department of Health & Human Services
regarding the opposition to the EPA's recent decision to approve
the use of gentamicin, a critically important medicine for humans,
for spray treatment for the plant disease of fireblight in apples.
Matheson-
Ferguson Bill Aims to Curb Drug-Resistant Super Bugs: October
19, 2007
Bad
Bugs, Few Drugs,
Infectious Diseases Society of America, July 2004.
Dr.
Phil on MRSA
WHO Global Strategy
September, 2001
To combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, the
World Health Organization (WHO) released its first Global
Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance. APUA
developed one of the technical documents supporting the WHO Global
Strategy, Antibiotic
resistance: synthesis of recommendations by expert policy groups.
US Interagency Action
Plan Jan. 18, 2001 APUA's
comments on the draft Action Plan
ICAAC Symposium: Global
Resistance Day Sept. 2000 "Global
Resistance Day: Unprecedented and Promising", by Robert A.
Weinstein, MD.
Drug Resistance Threatens
to Reverse Medical Progress- WHO Report read
more
Laboratory Capacity
to Detect Antimicrobial Resistance news
article
World Health Organization.
"Strengthening Global Preparedness for Defense against Infectious
Disease Threats." Statement to the United States Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations Hearing on The Threat of Bioterrorism and
the Spread of Infectious Diseases. 5 September 2001. http://www.who.int/emc/pdfs/Senate_hearing.pdf(24
November 2002) http://www.espionageinfo.com/Gu-In/Infectious-Disease-Threats-to-Security.html
The
epidemic of antibiotic-resistant infections: a call to action
for the medical community from the Infectious Diseases Society
of America. [Clin Infect Dis. 2008 Jan 15;46(2):155-64]
Societal costs versus
savings from wild-card patent extension legislation to spur critically
needed antibiotic development Spellberg
B et al. 2007 Jun;35(3):167-74 http://www.springerlink.com/content/6134445712341065/fulltext.pdf
Antibiotic Resistance:
Federal Agencies Need to Better Focus Efforts to Address Risk
to Humans From Antibiotic Use in Animals, Government Accountability
Office, April 2004. Congress' nonpartisan auditing office finds
federal agencies aren't doing enough to pin down the precise health
risks posed by antibiotic use on farms.
Impacts of Antibiotic-Resistant
Bacteria, Office of Technology Assessment, www.theblackvault.com/documents/ota/Ota_1/DATA/1995/9503.PDF
September 1995. A nonpartisan federal agency reports on the history
of antibiotic resistance and discusses federal policy options
to combat it.
Kaufman, Marc, "Bayer
Seeks Reprieve for Animal Antibiotic," The Washington Post,
Sept. 2, 2005, p. A4. Bayer Corp. has asked the FDA to allow it
to keep selling Baytril, its controversial animal antibiotic,
while it fights the ban in federal court.
"Government
Alleges Iowa Dairy Sold Cows with Antibiotics In Meat,"
The Associated Press, Aug. 10, 2007. The federal government has
filed a complaint alleging that an Iowa dairy has violated FDA
guidelines by selling culled cows with more than the allowable
amount of antibiotics in their systems.
Graham, Judith, "
'Super Bug' Bill Targets
Hospitals," Chicago Tribune, April 30, 2007, p. A1. Illinois
may become the first state to require hospitals to implement programs
that combat the drug-resistant bacterium MRSA (methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus)
The 2001 Federal Interagency
Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance," Union of Concerned
Scientists www.ucsusa.org
Performance
Measures May Lead to Overuse of Antibiotics July 10, 2006
"4/29/08: APUA issues
a Press Release responding to the Pew Commission on Industrial
Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP)'s report and commending legislative
leadership in containing antibiotic resistance". Read
APUA's Press Release 4/29/08.
APUA submits a written
testimony for the FDA hearing on antimicrobial resistance 4/28/2008
[Docket No. FDA-2008-N-0225]". Read
APUA's testimony.
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