US warns of microbes resistant to antibiotics

WASHINGTON - At least two million people per year in the United States get infections that are resistant to antibiotics and 23,000 die from those infections, a new study says.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said these numbers are only a conservative estimate. Among other reasons, they come only from infections reported in hospitals and do not address ones that occur in nursing homes and other health care facilities.

The numbers underline the importance of not overusing antibiotics.  



In as many as half of the cases studied, antibiotic use was not necessary or was even inappropriate, such as in viral infections, for instance, the researchers said.

The report also warns against the danger of running short on effective treatments against infection while the number of new antibiotics being developed fails to meet short-term needs.

"If we're not careful, we will soon be in a post antibiotic era," CDC director Tom Frieden said.

"And, in fact, for some patients and some microbes, we are already there. Losing effective treatment will not only undermine our ability to fight routine infections, but also have serious complications, serious implications, for people who have other medical problems," he said.

Most of the 18 microbes included in the study are common, and were divided into three categories depending on their degree of risk: urgent, concerning and important.

Within the urgent group, there are three of particular interest: they are called carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, C. difficile, and drug-resistant gonorrhea, he said.

The first of those is a "nightmare bacteria" that can essentially resist all antibiotics and kill people who get it in their blood.

C. difficile is a life-threatening infection associated with 14,000 deaths and a quarter of a million hospitalizations per year.

As for gonorrhea, there are more than 800,000 infections in the United States each year, with a growing proportion resistant to all available medication.

The way to fight all this is to prevent infection and the spread of resistance, through immunization, safe food preparation and hand washing, the CDC said.

source: interaksyon.com

Common antibiotic boosts death risk -- study

WASHINGTON DC -- A popular antibiotic used for treating bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, and sexually transmitted diseases may boost the risk of death, a US study said Wednesday.

Azithromycin has been on the worldwide market since the 1980s, but the study in the New England Journal of Medicine is the first to document serious heart risks -- up to a 2.5-fold higher chance of cardiovascular fatalities -- in the first five days of treatment compared to another or no antibiotic.

The comparison was based on an examination of patient records in the southern US state of Tennessee from 1992 to 2006.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University compared about 348,000 prescriptions of azithromycin to millions of records from people who were not treated with any antibiotics or who received amoxicillin, a similar medication that is considered heart safe.

The analysis found there were 47 more deaths per million in those taking azithromycin compared to those on amoxicillin.

When researchers examined patients already at high risk for heart problems, the chance increased to 245 additional cardiovascular deaths per million in the azithromycin group compared to the amoxicillin takers.

While the relative number of fatalities was low, researchers said the findings offer new information about possible dangers that doctors and patients should consider.

"We believe this study adds important information on the risk profile for azithromycin," said lead author Wayne Ray, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University.

"For patients with elevated cardiovascular risk and infections for which there are alternative antibiotics, the cardiovascular effects of azithromycin may be an important clinical consideration."

The Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva first patented azithromycin in 1981, and later struck a worldwide deal with Pfizer to sell the antibiotic worldwide. Pfizer branded the treatment Zithromax and Zmax.

Azithromycin is a macrolide antibiotic that works by stopping the growth of bacteria.

Side effects may include skin rashes, itching, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing and rapid, pounding or irregular heartbeats, according to the American Hospital Formulary Service.

source: interaksyon.com