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U.S. Falling Behind In Efforts to Control Superbug Threat

The United States lags behind many Western European nations in controlling the spread of certain drug-resistant microbes or “superbugs,” according to new research.

The latest iteration of ResistanceMap, an interactive web-based tool that tracks drug resistance in North America and Europe, shows that despite significant gains in limiting the spread of hospital acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the United States still has one of the highest MRSA rates in the Northern Hemisphere — putting it far behind other developed European countries.

Nearly 52 percent of reported Staph samples in the United States are resistant to treatment with methicillin, penicillin and closely related antibiotics, compared to just 1 percent in Sweden.



ResistanceMap was launched by Extending the Cure, a Washington, D.C.-based research project that studies the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. The maps offer a comprehensive way to visualize global antibiotic resistance trends and identify top-performing countries and U.S. regions as well as those where antibiotic resistant infections are severe. Such infections can result in long hospital stays and high treatment costs — if they can be treated at all.

“With this tool, public health officials, researchers, and others can see the progression of antibiotic resistance in the United States and worldwide,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, Ph.D., director of Extending the Cure, in a news release. “By mapping the geography of resistance, we can better identify regions at risk for outbreaks. In addition, this map allows us to look for solutions and pinpoint regions of the world where infection control practices have been particularly successful.”



Other global trends include the new finding that the United States, together with Ireland, has the highest reported rate of the lethal and resistant microbe Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE).

VRE infections are often passed from one hospital patient to another when health care workers fail to follow standard hygiene precautions, such as hand-washing. According to the data in the online maps, over 20 percent of infections caused by VRE bacteria in the United States are resistant to vancomycin, a drug of last resort, compared to less than 5 percent in Canada and most of Western Europe.

For more on medical safety issues, see the library of articles by Daytona Beach medical malpractice attorney.




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