Legislators outline path forward in wake of resistant superbug discovery

With the discovery of a strain of E. coli bacteria in the U.S. with the mcr-1 gene, which gives the bug resistance to even last resort antibiotics, a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations conducted a hearing Tuesday on strategies for a national public health response to the growing inefficacy of antibiotic medications. 

Growing concerns about the pace and quality of antibiotic stewardship program adoption in hospitals are also fueling the national discussion — the CDC said in May that one in three antibiotic prescriptions is given unnecessarily, and a study from the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy found only about half of hospital stewardship programs to be comprehensive.

"Without effective, coordinated and decisive government action we risk entering into a post-antibiotic world where common infection could once again become life-threatening," Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said at the hearing.

In 2015, the White House announced a national action plan for combating the growing menace of antibiotic resistance. This year, Congress is devoting more than $830 million to efforts that will combat antibiotic resistance, and the Obama administration requested $1.1 billion be allocated to those efforts going into 2017.

However, if efforts aren't coordinated on a global scale, all of the capital and energy sunk into fighting superbugs in America may not add up to much. Lax regulations and a lack of visibility of the antibiotic resistance issue in other countries contribute to scenarios where drugs that are coveted here are available over the counter elsewhere, and are taken with little consideration for best practices.

Expert panelists who spoke at the hearing said key areas of focus for research are the early stages of the antibiotics pipeline, where new classes of antibiotics could be targeted;  expanding genomic sequencing of bacteria to treat outbreaks faster; and working with agencies worldwide to coordinate efforts.

Rep. Pallone said that antibiotic resistance is simply a reality of nature, and without long-term strategies and funding in place, humanity as a whole could lose one of the most important medical advancements of all time. 

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