Categories: Antibiotic use
May 10th, 2013 11:04 am ET -
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Ramanan Laxminarayan, PhD
Guest Author – Ramanan Laxminarayan, PhD
Director, Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy
To many, antibiotic resistance may seem like an evergreen issue that reappears in the news cycle periodically. However, recent reports of the emergence and spread of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, described in CDC’s March 2013 Vital Signs Report remind us that we stand at the threshold of the post-antibiotics era and that we have a responsibility to bring broader attention to this serious public health threat.
In November of last year, a group of 26 organizations came together to sign the Joint Statement on Antibiotic Resistance, an agreement that put forth bold principles for protecting our current supply of working antibiotics while urging the development of new ones. Among the goals listed is the need for continued efforts to educate a wider audience about the looming danger of running out of effective antibiotics.
Last week, Extending the Cure released an animated video that explains in clear and engaging terms how antibiotic resistance emerges, what it costs to society, and why antibiotics must be conserved as a communal resource, like water and trees.
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Categories: Antibiotic use, Long Term Care (LTC)
November 16th, 2012 8:47 am ET -
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Matthew Wayne MD, CMD
Author – Matthew Wayne MD, CMD,
Chief Medical Officer for CommuniCare Family of Companies,
President of the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA)
So, you’ve recently taken antibiotics and you’ve now developed a case of disturbing diarrhea. Should you be concerned? Maybe so…
Antibiotic-associated diarrhea refers to diarrhea that develops in a person who is taking or recently took antibiotics. One of the most serious causes of antibiotic-associated diarrhea is Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection – a major cause of acute diarrhea in long-term care facilities. Not only does C. difficile cause discomfort, it actually results in nearly 14,000 deaths every year—90% of these involve people aged 65 or older. People who have recently taken antibiotics are at greatest risk for C. difficile, which is yet another reason we need to use these medications carefully in our nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
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Categories: Antibiotic use, Long Term Care (LTC)
November 15th, 2012 1:55 pm ET -
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Nimalie Stone, MD
Author – Nimalie Stone MD,
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As you have read in the posts from our academic and clinical partners, much work needs to be done to impact the systems and behaviors driving antibiotic use in the nursing home setting.
We believe many of the principles of antibiotic stewardship we apply in hospitals would also hold true in other healthcare settings. However, we do not have the same levels of clinical experience and research evidence to implement this activity in our nation’s nursing homes. As an important first step in developing a strategy to promote improved antibiotic use in these healthcare facilities, CDC has reached out to key partners across the nursing home industry to get their input and advice. In fact, today CDC is having face-to-face conversations with these industry stakeholders to discuss and outline next steps towards improved antibiotic use in nursing homes.
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Categories: Antibiotic use, Antimicrobial Resistance
November 14th, 2011 3:31 pm ET -
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Nimalie Stone, MD
Author — Nimalie Stone, M.D.
Medical Epidemiologist
CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
With increasing drug-resistant bacteria and complicating conditions from antibiotic use like diarrhea from C. difficile on the rise, we must look at every opportunity available to improve how antibiotics are being used in healthcare settings. This year as part of CDC’s Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, in addition to our ongoing focus on improving antibiotic use in hospitals, we invite partners who deliver care in long-term care facilities (e.g., nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities) to also join in the Get Smart for Healthcare campaign.
Antibiotics are some of the most frequently prescribed medications in long-term care facilities. Studies estimate that between 50-70% of residents will receive at least 1 course of antibiotics every year. Over time, that adds up to a lot of medication exposure. All this antibiotic use also drives the development of resistant bacteria making future infections far more difficult and costly to treat. One of the biggest challenges facing long-term care facilities is the prevention and control of C. difficile infections and relapses. These infections are more severe in people over age 65 resulting in hospitalizations and sometimes death.
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Categories: Antibiotic use, Healthcare-associated infections, Outpatient Care
October 25th, 2011 7:21 am ET -
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Alice Guh, M.D, MPH
Author: Alice Guh,
CDC medical officer and co-lead of Preventing Infections in Cancer Patients initiative
As clinicians, we know that the nearly one million patients who receive outpatient cancer treatment each year are at risk for serious infections that may lead to hospitalization, disruptions in chemotherapy schedules, and in some cases, death. Even so, it appears that outpatient oncology facilities may vary greatly in their attention to infection prevention. As one example – at an oncology clinic in Nebraska, it was discovered that syringes were reused to access bags of saline that were shared among multiple patients. This unsafe practice led to the transmission of hepatitis C virus to at least 99 cancer patients, resulting in one of the largest healthcare-associated outbreaks of its kind.
To help address this problem, CDC is launching a new program called Preventing Infections in Cancer Patients, featuring tools to help both clinicians and patients prevent infections.
As a cornerstone of this new initiative, CDC worked with partners to develop a Basic Infection Control and Prevention Plan for Outpatient Oncology Settings, which can be used by outpatient oncology facilities to standardize – and improve – infection prevention practices.
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