White House Details Plan To Fight Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Drug-resistant bacteria is a serious problem, causing thousands of deaths in the US (and even more elsewhere) and millions of hard-to-treat illnesses every year. It's important to address the issue, and while some campaigns aiming to educate the public on how to help prevent this have taken place, they haven't been enough. Now the White House is getting involved, with the Obama administration detailing its recent past efforts and future plans for addressing the issue, including the development of diagnostic tests and limiting inappropriate prescriptions.

The information was detailed in the administration's newly released National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, which goes into details about the government's plan to address the problem over the next half decade.

First among this is the goal of slowing the emergence of such bacteria and, for the instances where it does exist, preventing it from spreading around. This will involve, among other things, "the judicious use of antibiotics" in both the agriculture and health care industries, and more careful practices when prescribing antibiotics.

In addition, the report also says the administration views a "one-health approach" in surveillance as necessary, as well as the development of faster and more innovative diagnostic tests to identify whether antibiotics are an appropriate treatment. Speeding up both basic and applied research is also said to be necessary, as well as improving the nation's collaboration with other countries in fighting the problem.

SOURCE: White House