Arming Health Care Providers Against Growing Antimicrobial Resistance

Antibiotic resistance continues to grow, and it’s plaguing health care providers and patients alike. Despite initiatives from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Antibiotic Resistance Solutions Initiative,¹ and the commitment of multiple organizations to the World Health Organization’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System to assemble data on antimicrobial resistance around the world, a startling 2 million individuals become infected with resistant bacteria and 23,000 die from resistant infections each year.¹ New antibiotics are continually being developed, but only a handful of those pipeline therapies are reported to be effective against resistant priority pathogens.² As fast as new antibiotics are being developed, bacteria are evolving even faster, and infections that were once treatable are quickly on their way to becoming incurable.

It should come as no surprise, then, that many of the articles in this issue focus on the problem of antimicrobial resistance. Health care providers are now faced with these once-rare infections every day—they must be equipped with best practices on how to handle them. From “Treatment Options to Address the Threat of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae” to “Long-Acting Anti-MRSA Agents: One Dose to Cure?”, the expert contributions in this issue provide timely and relevant information to help providers battle these superbugs.

Furthermore, with organizations such as the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy in Washington, DC, purporting that by the year 2030, antibiotic consumption will increase by as much as 200% if health care providers keep moving forward with their current prescribing practices,³ we need to ensure that all members of the health care team, such as nurses, are actively involved in stewardship. The war on antimicrobial resistance will not be won alone, but with the commitment of every player in the game, we might just live to fight another day.

I trust you will learn from the expert-contributed reporting, built on smart insights and in-depth stories, in this magazine. I also recommend you visit our website, ContagionLive.com, for real-time updates on the shifts rippling through the world of infectious disease.

Stay informed and thanks for reading.

Mike Hennessy, Sr

Chairman and CEO