“ICU Patients Need More Protection from Superbugs”

“An international coalition of intensive care and infectious disease experts have released a statement calling for more awareness and action among health care professionals to reduce the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in patients in intensive care units (ICUs).

Although AMR broadly refers to the bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens that have developed resistance to antibiotics, antivirals, and antifungals, tackling increasing resistance in bacteria has become a public health imperative around the world. Infections from drug-resistant bacteria threaten to undo years of global health advances, with the World Health Organization (WHO) noting that 480,000 people worldwide develop multidrug-resistant tuberculosis each year, affecting the fight against HIV and malaria. Patients with antibiotic-resistant infections experience longer hospital stays, higher medical costs, and increased risk of mortality.

Highlighting the problem of antibiotic resistance, in September 2017, the WHO released a report warning that the world is running out of antibiotics because of growing bacterial resistance and the lack of new antibiotics being developed.”

Source: ContagionLive