Subject:

HHS PRESS RELEASE--ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

Date:

Thu, 18 Jan 2001 14:52:25 -0500

From:

MARTHA HENNEGHAN <mhennegh@os.dhhs.gov>

To:

HHSPRESS@LIST.NIH.GOV

Date: January 18, 2001

For Release: Immediately

Contacts: CDC Press Office

(404) 639-3286

FDA Press Office

(301) 827-6250

NIH/NIAID Press Office

(301) 402-1663

Headline:HHS RELEASES ACTION PLAN TO COMBAT ANTIMICROBIAL

RESISTANCE

HHS today unveiled an action plan, developed by an interdepartmental task

force, that provides the United States with a comprehensive approach to combat

antimicrobial resistance. The plan designates priorities, identifies

responsible agencies and creates timelines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes

of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) led a task force

of 10 agencies and departments that included the Agency for Healthcare

Research and Quality, the Health Care Financing Administration, and the Health

Resources and Services Administration at HHS, as well as representatives from

the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of

Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The task force,

created in 1999, developed the plan, which provides a blueprint for specific,

coordinated federal actions to address the emerging threat of antimicrobial

resistance.

In the 1940s, the widespread availability of newly discovered antibiotics led

to a dramatic reduction in illness and death from infectious diseases.

However, bacteria and other disease-causing organisms are remarkably resilient

and have been able to mutate and acquire resistant genes from other microbes,

thereby developing resistance to existing antimicrobial drugs. Many

scientists and public health specialists expect this resistance problem to

worsen unless we act decisively. Additionally, the costs of treating

antimicrobial resistant infections place a significant burden on society. For

example, it has been estimated that the in-hospital cost of hospital-acquired

infections caused by just six common kinds of resistant bacteria is at least

$1.3 billion per year, in 1992 dollars.

The plan has four major components: surveillance, prevention and control,

research, and product development. Within those four components are 84 action

items, including 13 priority action steps considered essential to addressing

antimicrobial resistance. Of these 13 initiatives, seven are already

underway, and six are planned to begin within the next one to two years. CDC,

FDA, and NIH, along with HHS, are leading the implementation of the action

plan. Top priorities of the four major sections include:

Surveillance. CDC will work with state health departments and other task force

members to design and implement a plan that will define national, regional,

state and local antimicrobial resistance surveillance responsibilities so that

these entities are coordinated and use similar methodology. Additionally,

FDA, USDA and CDC plan to develop systems that can monitor patterns of

antimicrobial drug use in human medicine, in agriculture and in consumer

products.

Prevention and control. HHS and partners will launch a national public

education campaign to reduce the overuse and misuse of antimicrobial drugs and

to improve antibiotic use in health care systems. Along with professional

societies and other stakeholders, CDC already has started to prepare clinical

guidelines for health professionals on how best to use antimicrobials.

Additionally, FDA has initiated consultations with stakeholders to refine its

proposed framework for assessing the human health impact of antimicrobials

that may be used in food-producing animals. CDC, too, has been supporting

pilot projects to identify effective strategies to promote appropriate

antimicrobial drug use and reduce infection rates in clinical practice.

Research. NIH will lead a team of agencies that will provide the research

community with new information and technologies, including genetic blueprints

for various microbes, to identify targets for desperately needed new

diagnostics, treatments and vaccines that could assist in preventing the

emergence and spread of resistant pathogens. NIH plans to develop clinical

studies to test new antimicrobials and novel approaches to treating and

preventing infections caused by resistant pathogens. NIH continues to

encourage and facilitate new rapid diagnostic methods and will pursue their

development and evaluate their ultimate impact in the context of antimicrobial

resistance.

Product Development. To identify and publicize priority health needs for new

products that prevent resistance or treat resistant infections, HHS plans to

create an Interagency Antimicrobial Product Development Working Group. Once

formed, this group also will consult with stakeholders and economic

consultants to identify incentives that encourage this kind of product

development.

A Public Health Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance is available

online at CDC=s Antimicrobial Resistance Web site, http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/ Printed copies will be available on

request in the near future.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are

available at www.hhs.gov/news.