Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) bacteria (Photo : Reuters)
The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that antibiotic-resistant "superbug" bacteria could cause illnesses and deaths to increase. That is unless coordination improves among facilities within the country's public health care system and Congress provides the funds for those reforms to combat the deadly microbes.
CDC published a new report on August 4, Tuesday. It estimated that the worst superbug infections during the next five years will increase to 340,000 cases, a 10 percent rise.
That is a fraction of the total 2 million cases of antibiotic-resistant infections in the U.S. each year. The increase could be reversed if healthcare institutions such as hospitals and long-term care could screen patients for the viruses.
The report also includes computer models. They show how facilities such as medical centers and nursing homes could prevent the superbug bacteria from spreading in institutions.
CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden was very direct in the request for funds to combat the deadly antibiotic-resistant microorganisms It requested $264.3 million, according to National Geographic.
The funds are required for preventing infections in health care facilities, and sharing data about infected patients with other facilities in their region. More personnel would collect, study, and distribute data.
The health care industry is well aware of the spread of powerful germs between different hospitals and nursing homes. However, solving the problem is another issue.
CDC's plan would make the relationships between U.S. healthcare facilities like the ones in Europe. There superbugs are carefully tracked, and data is shared within regions and nationwide.
The agency discovered that using this approach in small health care networks could reduce superbug infections by nearly three-fourths in 5 years. In larger systems its figure was 55 percent in 15 years.
CDC also reported that better coordination between health care facilities about antibiotic-resistant viruses could have a major impact nationwide. It could prevent 600,000 infections and 37,000 deaths in 5 years, according to Orange County Register.
