USG releases new national antibiotic resistance plan

Feds release new national antibiotic resistance plan The report contains coordinated actions aimed at changing the trajectory of antibiotic resistance. CIDRAP

In the midst of a global pandemic, the federal government late last week released a new action plan to help prevent a future pandemic of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The updated "National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, 2020-2025" is a roadmap to guide the nation's response to the rise and spread of drug-resistant bacteria, which, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are responsible for more than 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths a year in the United States. It's the second action plan released by the government.

The five goals of the plan remain the same as those in the first plan, which came out in March 2015. They include slowing the emergence of resistant bacteria and preventing the spread of resistant infections; strengthening "One Health" surveillance efforts; advancing the development and use of rapid diagnostics; accelerating the development of new antibiotics, vaccines, and alternative therapies; and improving international collaboration on antibiotic-resistant prevention and control.

But the objectives for meeting those goals have been updated. Among the new objectives are a 20% reduction in the number of healthcare-associated antibiotic-resistant infections and 10% reduction in community-acquired antibiotic-resistant infections by 2025, support for 10 new resistance-related diagnostics projects by 2021, and support for the clinical development of 10 novel therapeutics for bacterial infections by 2022.

Other objectives include increasing the amount of laboratory testing for antibiotic resistance; expanding the number of hospitals that provide antibiotic resistance surveillance data; lowering the annual rate of inappropriate outpatient antibiotic prescribing; collecting and analyzing more data on resistant pathogens in food, animals, and the environment; and selecting a "champion" to advocate for US policy positions on antibiotic resistance in international meetings and negotiations.  ...